Two Way Street
by AngelaBowow
Summary: "As we journey through our lives we all take separate paths. Sometimes they're filled with sorrow, other times they're full of laughs. In life our paths will cross, we won't always be alone. We've seen what's behind us, but our future remains unknown." The journey at Hogwarts for those souls who suffered through The First Wizarding War. JPLE. Marauder Era. Cover Image by Viria13
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! So this is my first ever fanfic! I hope you all enjoy reading it!(: Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.**

August 2nd 1971 was an abnormally normal day; at least, it had started out that way. The sun was shining brightly and the birds sang to each other using their own unique melodies. The Evans' family residence always had many lovely birds during the morning, but until August 2nd 1971, there had never been any owls in their yard.

The peaceful silence that had descended upon the household was broken by a giddy squeal which had come from the youngest child of the family, Lily.

"Mummy! Mummy, look! I've just gotten a letter in the post!"

Daisy Evans glanced up from her book to look at her daughter. Lily's dark, scarlet hair was in disarray and a cheeky grin had taken over her face.

"Did you, darling? Well do tell who it's from."

"It's from Hogwarts! Mum, see look here. They're telling me I'm a witch! Just like Severus did, remember?" Lily bounded the last steps to her mother and placed the opened envelope into her hands.

Daisy Evans quickly scanned through the letter, searching for some sign that would tell her this was a foolish prank being played on her daughter, but after realising it was not, she looked back up at Lily with wide eyes. She then proceeded to call out for her husband.

"William! Darling, come look at this!" Lily's father poked his head in from the adjacent room inquisitively before striding over to his wife and daughter. He took the envelope and its attachment of letters and began to read. His wife continued to ramble on to him as he did. "Oh, isn't this wonderful? A real witch in the family; and to think when Lily told us about all this two years ago we didn't believe her." Lily's father looked down at her and smiled.

"I always knew my Lily was special."

At this Lily beamed at him. She opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by another voice.

"What's going on in here? It sounds like a circus." The voice belonged to Petunia Evans, Lily's older and only sibling.

"Oh, Petunia sweetheart," exclaimed their mother. "Your sister has just been claimed a legitimate witch. It's marvellous, isn't it?"

Petunia scowled. "She's not a witch, mum. Can't you see? That Snape boy has been putting all these silly thoughts in her head. Honestly, I don't know why you allow people like him to befriend your own child."

Lily bristled. "That's a horrible thing to say, Tuney! Snape's a good boy, and it's not his fault that he has to live the life he does. And I am a real witch! This letter says so. It's from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They're going to teach me how to do magic, and maybe once I'm there, I can ask if you can be a witch, too. That way we can be together." Lily was thoroughly enthusiastic about the idea, but her sister was not.

Petunia's face wrinkled up in disgust. "Why in the world do you think I would want to go to a school for freaks?"

"Petunia! Apologize to your sister! She is not a freak and you shall not call her such mean and degrading names." Petunia rolled her eyes at her mother.  
"I'm sorry, Lily. There, I apologised and seeing how there is little left for me here, I will excuse myself. You'll find me in my room." With that Petunia Evans departed, leaving the rest of her family to scowl in her wake.

Lily's face continued to display the hurt she felt after hearing what Petunia truly thought about her. "Mum, dad, do you think I'm a freak?"

Her parents were quick to lean down and console her. "Of course not, darling. Your sister is simply taking the news a bit different than the rest of us, but I'm sure she will soon grow to accept you and continue to love you for who you are, Lily."

Lily smiled and hugged them, for she truly thought that things would get better.

James Potter always knew he would receive an acceptance letter to Hogwarts and when he finally did get it, he was ecstatic on the inside but on the outside he played it cool. He walked into the sitting room and plopped down on to the couch next to his mother.

"Hey mum, check it out. My Hogwarts letter finally came. Though, in my opinion, I definitely could have attended earlier." Dorea Potter chuckled at her son. Her reading spectacles dipped slightly as she craned her neck to look at him.

"Is that so? Wouldn't you be afraid of getting crushed by all the big, scary Quidditch players?"

James snorted. "As if. They would be the ones afraid of me." She let out a soft laugh and stood from the couch.

"If you say so, it must be true. We can go to Diagon Alley sometime next week to gather all your school supplies, but until then, don't you dare loose that letter James Alexander." She winked down at him. "Now come along, we're set to have tea and lunch with the MacGregor's." James groaned and rolled his eyes. His mother raised her eyebrows at him.

"Mum, we just saw them yesterday. I'm starting to think that you and dad are planning to live with them."

"We were waiting for you and Freya to go to Hogwarts before we broke the news but seeing as how you seemed to have already figured it out…I suppose we don't have to tell you anymore."

James grinned. "I just know you too well, mum." They laughed and then met Charlus Potter, James' father, in the foyer. He kissed his wife on the cheek in greeting as she and James joined hands. Being way underage, James had to do side-along apparition with either his mother or father.

James felt a tug and then he experienced the feeling of being shoved and boxed into the tiniest space on the planet. At one point, he thought he felt his eyes collide with his brain as it was being smashed by his ear drums. When they finally landed outside the MacGregor's manor, James felt his whole body pop.

"Merlin's beard…that never gets any better with time." His mother smiled at him and suggested that next time they use muggle transportation, an idea which both James and his father strongly disagreed with.

The Potters walked up the stone path leading to the main entrance and when they finally reached the grand mahogany doors, Charlus gripped one of the gold lion knockers and pounded it against the wood. Three loud thumps could be heard echoing off the walls of the house. A second later the door swung open to reveal a little house elf draped in what looked to be a curtain.

"Oh! The Potter family has arrived." The small house elf opened the door wider and stepped out of the way to allow the Potters entrance into the house. "Madame MacGregor is in the back with Mistress Freya and Master is in his study room. Tael shall alert them right away, sirs and madam." The house elf bowed and then departed.

Mr. Potter headed to the study while James and his mother began to move towards the back of the house. When they arrived, only Mrs. MacGregor could be spotted.

Dorea bid her a good morning as the two hugged in greeting. They then proceeded to talk about ministry affairs as house elves popped in and out bringing teas and sweets as they did.

Nora MacGregor was quite pretty for her age. While James' mother had long chestnut hair and hazel eyes, Nora had shoulder length, dark crimson hair with large blue eyes. She was striking in her beauty while Dorea was more subtle in hers. James thought that maybe he simply had a strange thing for red heads.

Nora noticed that he was still present and told him that he would be able to find Freya in the labyrinth. James nodded politely and thanked her before leaving, taking the hint that he was no longer needed or wanted with the two older women. Not that he cared much anyway.

The MacGregor Family had dozens of gardens surrounding their house, unlike the Potters who only had a few but their yard contained a full size Quidditch pitch which James and his father used for fun and practice.

At the back of the French Garden there loomed an oversized labyrinth with flowers of all different colours blooming along the hedges. James sighed before entering, hoping this time, he wouldn't get lost. As he made his way through, he couldn't help but admire his surroundings. The sun was shining down and flowers bloomed magically as he walked between the hedges, giving off a mystical feeling. The maze itself was magical and thus the walls were always shifting. James could never figure out how Freya made her way through the thing and emerge from it alive.

After what felt like a lifetime of walking, he finally entered the centre most part of the maze. It was a square area with a large fountain in the middle. The fountain was marble and in the middle sprouted a great lion and adorned on its head was an extravagant crown. Engraved on the circular bottom were letters that formed the words ' 'S RIOGHAL MO DHREAM'. In all the years James had known the MacGregors he had never asked what that meant. He gazed around the area. A wooden bench sat on the farthest side of the square from the point in which James had entered and flowers were blooming all over it. He spotted a head of hair with a colour that was identical to Nora's and knew that Freya must be sitting on the other side of the fountain. James strutted over and sat down next to her.

Freya MacGregor was much too beautiful for her age. She had flawless creamy skin that contrasted greatly against her long, dark crimson, softly curled hair. Although she spent a lot of time in the heat of the gardens, it was never frizzy or out of place. She had a cute button nose and full pink lips. She always seemed to have a small blush, but that could have just been because of her Scottish blood. Unlike her mother though, Freya had eyes so silver they looked like liquid mercury.

But even in all her beauty, Freya and James were nothing more than friends and they liked it that way. When they were seven years old they had gone into the Italian Garden and kissed because after seeing their parents do it so often, they had both wanted to know what it was like. After, they thought it so disgusting that they made their own faux unbreakable vow to never kiss anybody ever again.

Freya smiled when she felt him sit down beside her. "Good morning, Jem." Even her voice was musical. It had a sweet English ring with a little bit of spice from her Scottish accent. James liked listening to her talk. She was also the only person he allowed to call him Jem.

"Good morning, Fey. Why are you out in the gardens so early?"

She shrugged. "Its peaceful here; always so serene and quiet. I like it."

James laughed. "What? The giant house you have isn't peaceful and quiet? Only three people live inside. How crazy does it get? Unless there's something you aren't telling me." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

She smacked his thigh. Hard. "Don't be a hypocrite. My house isn't half the size of yours, you dolt. And besides, the house is quiet but it's also empty. The gardens are full of life." James rolled his eyes and began to rub his thigh to help with the now growing sting. "So, I presume you've received your Hogwarts letter as well?"

He nodded. "Mum says we can go supply shopping letter this week. We should go together." She nodded her head in agreement. They sat in silence for a little while before James spoke up again. "Do you think we'll be sorted into Gryffindor?" Freya snorted.

"I don't believe we have even the slightest chance of being put in any house _besides _Gryffindor. You're bloody related to him, and everybody in my family has been in that house. Besides, my clan's crest has a lion on it. Look." She took out the necklace that had been hidden under her shirt. The pendant and chain were both gold and the pendant was circular. Inside the innermost circle was a lion that bore its teeth out in a growl with its tongue hanging out, almost like a snake's. Its head was adorned with a crown. Around the outer circle the same motto as the one on the fountain was repeated and at the bottom of the pendant it read MACGREGOR.

"What does that mean? The motto, I mean," James asked fingering the chain around her neck.

"It's written in Scottish Gaelic and it means 'My race is royal' or 'My blood is royal'. They both get the same meaning across though so you can choose whichever your favourite is." James laughed.

He paused, lost in thought. "What do you reckon it'll be like? Living there and finally being able to do magic?" Freya raised her eyebrows.

"Are you telling me that you of all people haven't been practicing underage magic?" James let a cheeky grin slide across his face. "That's what I thought, and I'm not sure. I suppose it will be frightening and exciting at the same time, yeah?" Freya looked at the sky and frowned. "Seems like it's bound to rain soon; we should probably head back towards the house then." She stood and motioned for James to get moving.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." He glanced up at the sky. "That's weird, it was so sunny when I arrived," he remarked. Freya shrugged.

"The weather is always pretty nasty in the UK." The pair weaved their way through the maze and at some point, they had clasped hands. "James," he looked up at her face. She never really used his full name. "Promise me that no matter what happens when we attend school, we'll always be friends."

His eyebrows knit together and he nodded. "I promise." Whilst his right hand held her left, he lifted his empty one with his little finger sticking out. It wrapped around hers and they both leaned in and kissed the fisted ends of their joined promise, or to them, their faux unbreakable vow. Sometime after that, James spoke up again. "If you're sorted into Slytherin, I just might have to break that promise."

Freya grinned. "That's acceptable." They laughed and continued to walk back together.

Sirius Black hated spending time with his family, and unfortunately for him, his family was together quite a lot. He had just received his Hogwarts letter and was now being coddled by his mother and two older cousins, Bellatrix and Narcissa. Sirius had tuned out from their annoying voices but was brought back when pale fingers were snapped in his face.

"Sirius, are you even listening to what your cousins are saying," his mother asked. There was an impatient tone to her voice. Sirius nodded quickly. "Good. Now pay closer attention."

He mentally rolled his eyes. He wished that he could say his mother was an old, ugly hag but she was not. She had perfect blonde hair that was always tied into a neat bun that rested on the back of her head. She was tall and regal and emanated a dark feeling as well as power. If she had not been his mother, Sirius could not think of anytime he would ever willingly approach her.

"As I was saying…" Bella snapped. "You'll be sorted in to Slytherin House like the rest of us. Cissy still has two years left at that blasted school, but you won't be seeing me anywhere when you get there. Andromeda has graduated as well but we don't speak of the filthy blood traitor. I can't believe she just went off and married some mudblood. After everything we've done for her! You would think she would show a little gratitude." Bella was snarling by the time she finished her little speech to her younger cousin. "But you won't be like that, right Sirius?" All eyes turned on him. He shrugged.

"I don't know what I'm going to be like when I get older." Wrong answer. Bella let loose a stinging hex that hit Sirius right in the chest. "OW! What the bloody hell was that for?"

"Don't smart mouth me, little cousin. If you act out during your years at Hogwarts we will know about it and we won't be happy." Sirius wanted to snort but knew he would get in trouble for doing so. "That means no making friends with Gryffindors, no befriending mudbloods and most importantly, don't think you can just turn your back on your family, Sirius because you're just like us and no matter what you do and how hard you try, you'll always be a Black."

*†‡†*

Lily was awestruck as she and Severus walked through Diagon Alley. People were everywhere! Going in and out of shops, standing in front of shops, sitting out in front of shops, playing with animals, doing whatever. All these simple things seemed to amaze Lily because all the people around her were witches and wizards. It was…unbelievable. She never would have believed something as magical as this could happen to someone as ordinary as her.

Store windows were lined with trinkets and treasures, owl and cats, broomsticks, jars of slimy looking creatures, eyeballs and sweets and something that seemed to resemble a telescope. Lily felt she could stay there and stare forever and she still would never be satisfied until she could see more. More of this amazing world she was now a part of and more of all the amazing things it held. Everything was just…amazing!

Lily and Severus had just wrapped up their school shopping and Eileen, Severus' mum, thought it would be nice to go and have ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They had just left Ollivanders and so Lily could not stop playing with her wand. It seemed crazy to her that she had a real, working magic stick. The owner had told her it was 10¼ʺ, made of willow wood, and the inside had unicorn hair. The moment she heard that she decided that before she died, she would see and pet a unicorn. No questions asked.

She and Severus sat outside the ice cream shop at a small table that was covered by a large, orange umbrella. They didn't speak much but shared funny glances and looks; occasionally making faces at each other as they happily ate their ice cream. Lily's ice cream cone had melted drastically and so when she finished, she excused herself to go to the loo and wash her hands.

She had no trouble finding it and once inside she noticed that she wasn't the only young witch. The girl washing her hands at one of the sinks had red hair just like Lily did. She had no idea if that was what had possessed her to speak to the girl, but once the words were out of her mouth, there was no going back.

"Hello, there." Lily found herself smiling through the mirror at her. The girl looked up with raised eyebrows, turned her head to see if anybody else was around and then answered.

"Hello." Lily noted that the girl had a really beautiful voice to go along with the rest of her perfect features. She wondered if she used potions from that beauty store she and Sev had walked past.

Lily continued to smile at the girl and carried on the conversation. "I'm Lily, Lily Evans. What's your name?"

"Freya MacGregor." The girl was straight and to the point with Lily. "I don't know any Evans… do you happen to be a muggle-born?"

Lily nodded. "I'm here with my friend, Severus. He's a…half-blood. Yeah that's what he told me. Are you muggle-born, too?" Lily hoped she wasn't coming off too rude, but it would be nice to relate to someone else who was also going through this transition.

Much to Lily's disappointment, Freya shook her head. She had finished washing her hands and had turned to leave. "Well, welcome to the wizarding world, Lily Evans. I guess I'll see you 'round, yeah?" Before Lily could reply Freya was out the door.

When she returned to the table, Severus and his mother were patiently waiting for her. Eileen smiled when she saw her approach. "There you are, Lily. We thought for a moment that you had wondered off and got lost. The wizarding world can be a dangerous place for young, inexperienced witches. Try to be careful when you go off on your own, alright?" Without waiting for a reply she began to usher the two kids back to the Leaky Cauldron so they could return home.

As they walked, a thought occurred to Lily. She turned to Severus. "Sev," he craned his head to meet her gaze as they walked. "Does it make a difference, being muggle-born?" Severus looked taken aback by the question.

"No. It doesn't make a difference. Why do you ask?" She shrugged.

"It was just a thought, I suppose," she mumbled. Severus raised an eyebrow but didn't push the matter. It would take Lily a few years to realise that he had lied to her.

*†‡†*

James and Freya were currently outside of Broomstix. James had his face fully pressed against the window, the heat from his breath fogging up the outside. Freya was attempting to drag him away.

"Jem! You already have the newest model! You aren't even allowed to keep one at Hogwarts this year so there is no point of drooling all over the window." Freya pulled on his robes but his feet were planted firmly to the ground. She growled in frustration.

"Who cares if I can't bring a broomstick? That sure isn't going to stop me from sneaking out to play." Freya rolled her eyes and pointed out that James already owned the broomstick on display. "Yeah but it looks beautiful here, under the spotlight. Simply breath-taking." James sighed and continued to make googly eyes until Freya was finally successful in dragging him away. She dragged him down the streets until they reached Ollivanders. She pushed open the door and they walked inside. James' face winkled up. "It smells like old people." This earned a smack from Freya and a quick scolding which James paid no attention to. They walked to the counter and he rang the tiny silver bell. There was a shuffling noise in the back and then an old man with wild, white hair appeared.

"Hello, children! Welcome to Ollivander's Wand Shop, I'm Garrick Ollivander. How may I be of service to you both?" He had a cheery voice and he came off as somebody who would always be happy.

"Hello, we're going to be first years at Hogwarts and we've come to get our wands," Freya said politely. Mr. Ollivander seized them up and then proceeded to ask them a couple of questions before disappearing into the back of the store.

"He seems like kind of a nutter, don' he," James whispered once he thought the old man was out of ear shot. Freya scowled at him and told him to play nice. James grinned. "You totally agree with me." He watched as the corner of her mouth turned up into a small, quick smile, but he knew what it meant.

Mr. Ollivander shortly returned holding two, dusty, small boxes. He held the one in his left hand towards Freya proclaiming that ladies go first. She shot James a smug look which he responded to by sticking out his tongue. She gently opened the box and took out the sleek, black wand. There were thin lines of silver flowing through it. Like a pulse. It looked beautiful in her hand. "This wand is 10¾ʺ, made of Elm wood, pliable with a phoenix feather core. Very good for charm work and experimental spell making." He winked at her. "You can go on and try a simple charm, now." Freya set the box at the feet and pointed her wand down at it.

She swished her wrist and spoke. "_Wingardium Leviosa."_ After a second, the box began to float off the ground. She lifted it higher and higher until it was almost at the ceiling, it shifted slightly and then she dropped the charm, causing the box to fall and smack James in the face, knocking off his glasses. He cried out as the same time Freya burst out laughing. Mr. Ollivander smiled.

"A perfect fit," he complimented. "What was your name again?" As Freya told him his eyes lit up. "I will be expecting great things from you, Freya". He then leaned down and presented James with the other box he had been carrying. James took out the wand and tested its fit in his hand. Perfect. There were carved cobwebs into his wand which James found he enjoyed tracing. Mr. Ollivander seemed to agree. "That there is 11ʺ, Mahogany, pliable as well and also contains a phoenix feather core. It will be great for transfiguration. You may also have a go at a simple spell."

James smirked, he had been practicing all different sorts of spells in his free time and had a fun one in mind. He turned quickly and pointed his wand at Freya "_Tarantallegra!_" Freya's feet began to dance involuntarily, in a sort of Irish jig.

"James Alexander Potter! If you don't take this jinx off of me in ten seconds I'll tell your mother it was _you_ that set her rose bushes on fire last year!" After hearing this James' face sobered and he quickly cast the counter-curse. Due to lack of equilibrium from her dance, she fell back onto her bum. She scowled up at James who returned it with a grin.

Mr. Ollivander was smiling at the two as James helped her off the ground. "I can already tell that you will both be very powerful one day. And those wands will help you a long as you go. A perfect match, if I do say so." As they left the store, both James and Freya wondered if he had still been talking about the wands at the end.

"What an old hoot," James remarked as they made their way to Magical Menagerie. "So what kind of a pet do you want, Fey?"

She sighed. "I really want a kitten but I know I need an owl and mum and dad say I can only have one for now. I haven't been able to choose yet."

James considered this. "Well why don't we share an owl? I'm sure it could just bring both of our mail and then that way you can also have a cat."

Freya beamed at him. "Oh would you really do that for me, Jem?" He nodded. Freya smiled even bigger and threw her arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! We can pick out the kitten and owl together!" Being overly excited, she grabbed onto him and sprinted the rest of the way to the store. Once they arrived, she headed straight over to the kittens and James followed loyal behind. James thought they only spent a second but Freya had already picked out the kitten she wanted. It was grey with white spots, and white booted feet. The kitten purred against her chest and looked at James with its big eyes. He noticed that the cat had one blue eye and one gold. "He's perfect! Don't you think? Here you can hold him." She handed James the tiny kitten that grew comfortable in his arms right away and fell asleep. He couldn't help but smile. "He likes you," she observed. "Do you want to get him?" She looked at him with her silver eyes full of hope. James nodded and reminded her that they now had to go pick out an owl. They walked among the cages with the sleeping kitten still in his arms and came across a brown, tawny owl with innocent yellow eyes. When it saw them it let out a shy 'hoot.' "What do ya think of this one? Cute isn't she?"

James inspected the owl. "Yeah she looks alright. Grab her cage and let's get outta here so we can get this little one home," he said motioning to the cat. As the two waited in line they began to discuss names for their new pets. They had agreed on the name Athena for the owl and had been arguing about the cat for a while. "What kind of a name is Ghaol for a cat," James argued.

Freya scowled. "You're saying it wrong! And it means love in Scottish Gaelic. It's a fine name."

James rolled his eyes. "Well sorry to break it to you, but not everybody is Scottish!"

"Oh like you have a better idea. I'd bet 100 galleons that you want to name him something dumb that has to do with Quidditch." James was silent for a second.

"Nothing in Quidditch is dumb…," he mumbled.

"So I was right?"

"Okay, fine I wanted to name him Snitch." She groaned. "What? It's not half as bad as Ghaol!" The two bantered for a few more minutes before finally deciding on the name Ace. "I guess it fits him…though it's not better than Snitch."

"Uh huh, keep telling yourself that, Jem. Now hurry up, we're going to be late to meet our parents." The two rushed the rest of the way to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They found their parents sitting outside eating ice cream like they were still teenagers, which they obviously were not. Mr. MacGregor noticed the children approach first.

"There you are," he exclaimed standing from his seat. "You're a tab bit late now, don't you think," he scolded pointing at his watch.

Freya attempted to catch her breath before answering. "It was…his fault. He…was drooling…all over…," she gestured wildly with her hands. "Broomsticks." Mr. Potter and her own father laughed. James was smiling cheekily.

Mrs. Potter spoke up. "You did manage to get everything?" He and Freya nodded. "Good. We should be on our way now, unless there is anything at all you could think to get?" They thought about it for a second, and then shook their heads signalling they had gathered all the necessities for school. Their parents stood to leave, but Freya said she needed to run to the loo before taking off.

She weaved her way through people to get to the back of the store and then entered the loo. It was empty. She quickly picked a stall and then once finished, went to wash her hands. As she did, another red headed girl walked in and started to clean the ice cream off of her hands. Freya felt her eyes on her and then the girl spoke up.

At first, Freya thought the girl may have been taking to someone who had just walked in but when she saw that there was no one else, she replied. The girl introduced herself as Lily Evans and had a sweet voice and face. Freya immediately took a liking to this girl, who she found out was a muggle-born. She looked at her watch and knew her parents would be getting impatient.

She turned to leave. "Well, welcome to the wizarding world, Lily Evans. I guess I'll see you 'round, yeah?" Freya made her way quickly back while thinking about the sweet, muggle-born she had just met. As she approached, her parents led the way as she and James followed closely behind. As they walked together James asked what had taken her so long in the loo. "I met a really sweet muggle-born," she paused. "I think her name was Lily. She had red hair like mine! Isn't that crazy? Maybe we'll make good friends." James told her that the muggle-born girl couldn't possibly be prettier than her and Freya laughed. "You haven't met her yet, Jem." She winked at him and they continued on.

*†‡†*

Sirius stood at Platform 9¾ with his family as they were saying their goodbyes. Narcissa was the only one coming with him on the train. His mother was rambling on about things he ought to remember but he couldn't be bothered with her. He was so close to freedom, so close to finally getting away from his awful family. The last thing he heard his mother tell him before they left was 'Make us proud, Sirius.' And he intended to do the exact opposite, for Sirius Black cursed the day he was born and cursed his own name.

There was a short line to get on the train and as he and Narcissa walked over to it, a lot of people parted with fear in their eyes when they saw her. Sirius looked up to see a satisfied smirk on her face. They were almost on the train when a short boy with messy black hair and glasses too big for his face stood in their way. Sirius' older cousin growled in frustration. She told the kid to move once, but the boy completely ignored her and stared on ward like she wasn't there. Sirius liked this kid. He could tell his cousin was starting to get frustrated waiting and he took the opportunity as it presented itself.

"Maybe you should just leave, Narcissa," Sirius suggested nonchalantly. She gaped down at her younger cousin.

"Excuse me, what did you say, Sirius?" Her eyes narrowed down at him and she glared with daggers. Sirius calmly repeated himself and couldn't help but let the corner of his mouth lift up in a tiny smirk. She huffed. "Just wait until your mother hears about this. You'll be dead meat in a second." She stomped away and he rolled his eyes. The women in his family had such bad attitudes.

The short kid with glasses grinned up at him. He held out his hand. "I'm James Potter, and you are?" Sirius took his hand in a firm shake and introduced himself. "I think we will be great mates, Sirius Black." The two boys grinned at each other and got on the train, picking an empty compartment. James sat down and looked out the window, searching for someone. When he spotted whoever he was looking for, he waved his arms frantically and yelled. "Freya! Get in here!" He leaned back in and closed the window. His hair was even messier and his glasses askew on his face. "So, I'm guessing you don't really like your family much?"

This caused Sirius to bark out laughter. "Not at all, mate. They all ramble on about pure-blood supremacy and dumb things like that. They don't even realise how wrong it is. It disgusts me." James nodded in agreement.

"I come from a pure-blood family, but they're not like that. My mum and dad help out with muggle-born rights occasionally in their free time. In my opinion, a witch is a witch and a wizard a wizard no matter where they come from originally." Sirius liked this James fellow a lot. He seemed to have the same thoughts as Sirius. James opened his mouth to say more but the compartment door slid open to reveal the most beautiful girl Sirius had ever laid eyes on. James stood when as she came in. "Good thing you're here now. You can watch the compartment while Sirius and I go grab some sweets for the trip." He stood at the door and motioned for Sirius to follow. As they walked down the narrow train corridor, his mind wandered back to the beautiful red head.

"Who was that," he found himself asking. James looked confused for a second.

"Who? The girl in the compartment?" Sirius nodded. "Oh, that's Freya MacGregor. She's practically my sister. She's a first year, too. Wait…you are a first year right?" He replied with a quick yes and James continued on. "Our parents are really close so Freya and I were raised together and she's the only real friend I've had until you." James looked a little sheepish. "But I never did any girly things with her, ya know," he was quick to add that. Sirius laughed and they reached the trolley containing all of the sweets. While they waited in line, they saw a tall, lanky boy standing alone in the corner of the train car. James called out to him. "Hey!" The boy didn't look up. "Hey, kid in the corner," he called again. This time the boy glanced up to meet James' face. He and Sirius motioned him over to where they were in line. He looked hesitant until he finally seemed to convince himself to go.

He stood awkwardly next to the two shorter boys, James being the smallest. Sirius introduced himself first and held out his hand. The boy shook it gently and said his name was Remus Lupin. The boys were next in line and James asked if Remus wanted anything. Remus looked hesitant again but then shook his head no. James looked him over and then bought more candy than necessary. He handed Remus five Chocolate Frogs and handed Sirius two bags of Jelly Slugs and James himself carried the rest of the candy back to their compartment. Remus and Sirius followed behind him.

They entered to see two more people sat opposite Freya. A boy with clothes that didn't fit him and greasy, long black hair and next to him was a girl with red hair similar to Freya's and bright, sparkling green eyes. James looked between the two new comers before turning to Fey.

"Who're they," has asked plopping down next to her and setting all the candy in his arms on the table by the window. Freya grabbed a bag of Jelly Slugs and popped a few in her mouth.

She pointed to the boy. "That's Severus Snape," she moved to point to the girl next to him. "And that's the Lovely Lily Evans, whom I met a few weeks ago in the loo at the ice cream parlour." James remembered hearing her say something about that.

He remembered Freya saying that she had been muggle-born. "Right, so you're both muggle-born, then," he asked looking between the two of them. The Snape bloke snorted.

Lily shook her head. "Severus isn't but I am." She smiled sweetly.

James grinned and ran a hand through his hair. "When we get to school, you'll want to be Sorted into Gryffindor. It's the best house of all the four. That's where my whole family has been in, Freya's too." He motioned between the two of them. "It's where we're going. What about you lot? Where do you think you'll go?"

Sirius sighed. "Unfortunately, everybody from my family has always been in Slytherin, but I refuse to be like them." He stopped and thought for a moment. "I have no idea which house I'll end up in."

The all looked at Remus who shifted uncomfortably under their gazes. He shrugged. "My father was in Ravenclaw and my mum is a muggle. I haven't a clue where I'll end up tonight."

The next person in question was Lily. "I don't know…I don't really know how this Sorting works but Severus thinks he and I will be in Slytherin." Sirius couldn't help but burst out laughing. Lily looked taken aback and narrowed her eyes. "What's so funny?"

The moment he calmed down, he spoke. "You're a muggle-born and you think you'll be Sorted into Slytherin? You must be a nutter if you think you can survive one day in that house without getting hexed by some pure-blood supremacist." Lily went to speak but Snape interrupted her.

"Lily would have me to protect her, and Slytherin house will be great for both her and me," he said defiantly glaring at Sirius. This time it was James who burst out laughing.

"You think that you could protect her? That being Sorted in to Slytherin could be beneficial to anybody?" James scoffed. "That's hilarious, _Snivellus_."

Severus bristled at his new nickname and narrowed his eyes at James. "That's rich coming from some stupid, oaf who only wants to be Sorted into Gryffindor house because of his blasted father," James went to jump at Severus but Freya held him back with one arm and drew her wand. She pointed it into Severus' chest.

"Don't you dare talk about Charlus Potter like that," She warned. "His blasted father is twice the man you'll ever be." Freya sneered at him and Severus glared back.

Lily stood up and grabbed his arm. "Maybe we should leave, Sev. I get the feeling we aren't wanted here anymore."

Freya shook her head. "You are, Lily. You'll always be welcome around me, but he," she jabbed her wand at Severus. "He is not." Lily nodded in understanding and she and Severus left anyway. Freya then turned and glared at the three boys. "Honestly! We haven't even arrived at school yet and you three are already causing trouble. You should be ashamed of your selves." The boys bowed their heads in shame. She eyed Remus and Sirius before asking for their names. Once they were given she went on to say that they shouldn't let James influence them too much.

"Hey! They make their own decisions and besides, I can tell these two are going to make great mates for someone like me." Freya raised an eyebrow. James continued on. "See, I've figured it all out. Remus is level headed and can monitor us and be our reminding, good friend, and Sirius looks like he could cause enough trouble to destroy the Ministry of Magic in one day. And with me, well," he grinned. "We'd make the perfect team." Freya shook her head and laughed.

"I'll never understand what runs through your tiny brain, James Potter." They all laughed at that. The rest of the ride to Hogwarts wasn't as eventful. They stayed in the compartment, only leaving to change into their school robes, and told each other about one another. And slowly, they became friends.

*†‡†*

Once the train arrived at the station in Hogsmeade, the first years were corralled to the shore by a big, friendly man named Hagrid, who then got them situated into boats. Lily and Severus sat with two other girls who didn't attempt to make any conversation with either of them. The castle loomed up over the lake with a strange, intriguing ambiance that Lily couldn't particularly place as anything she had ever felt before. There were towers sprouting out of thick stone buildings, lights illuminating every beautiful and intricate window. The only thing Lily could compare it to be was something out of a muggle story book and it was she who felt like the princess.

Once the boats docked on the other side, they were led by another, older witch into the castle and up to the doors of the Great Hall. The witch assembled all the students into neat lines. Lily noticed that the woman was tall, and severe-looking. She was adorned with emerald green robes with a sort of pattern on it as well as a pointed hat that had been cocked to one side. She wore on her face a very prim and professional expression and her black hair was pulled tightly back into a neat bun. Lily immediately knew she never wanted to cross this specific professor.

"Listen up, please," she spoke with authority and riled down the students quickly. "Welcome, first years, to Hogwarts. Now, through those doors is the Great Hall in which you will be Sorted into your individual houses. Once Sorted, you will go and sit at the table of your designated house and the headmaster will then give a short speech and the feast will begin. You will receive more information pertaining to your schooling tomorrow during breakfast which promptly begins at 7:30 am. Do not be late." With that she turned and flicked her arms out causing the doors to open.

The first years walked through the middle of the Great Hall until they reached the front of the room. The headmaster stood and gave a brief welcome and then motioned for the Sorting to begin. Directly in the centre a few meters from the head table was a stool with a plain hat sitting on it. The hat then belted out a song which, Lily soon realised was about the school itself. There was lots of humour and many times the students would all burst out laughing. Once it had finished its song, the witch in green robes picked up the hat and then unrolled a scroll.

"Addison, Courtney," she called out. A blonde girl emerged from the crowd and sat herself on the stool. The teacher placed the hat on the girls head and then a soft murmuring could be heard coming from it, but no one could make out what it was saying. Then very quickly it yelled out, "Hufflepuff!" The girl slid from the stool and happily made her way over to the table that was cheering and clapping. A yellow and black banner hung above their table.

"Agerwall, Patricia." Another girl went up. This time the hat called out for Ravenclaw. Lily felt a hand touch her arm and she turned to see Freya standing behind her smiling.

"Hey, I just thought I'd come by and apologize for what happened on the train. I hope we can still be friends even though I kind of threatened your other friend." She smiled sheepishly and Lily beamed back.

"Of course! It wasn't your fault that happened." Lily rolled her eyes. "You know what they say, 'boys will be boys' and all that." Freya laughed and then turned her attention back to the ceremony. A few more people went by and then a familiar name was called.

"Black, Sirius."

*†‡†*

Sirius made his way through the crowd and then sat down on the stool. He felt the leather hat being placed on his head and then a low, almost sinister voice.

"Hmmmm, interesting. A Black with so much courage, and loyalty as well, but you're much too good for Hufflepuff…where to put you, where to put you. You're smart and ambitious but not the Ravenclaw type." Sirius clenched his fist and willed the hat to say anything but Slytherin. "It's got to be…GRYFFINDOR!"

Sirius smiled so big his cheeks began to hurt; he walked over to the cheering table and sat down. He glanced over at the Slytherins and saw many of them had dropped their jaws. Narcissa especially looked surprised and angry. Sirius on the other hand, had never felt better in his life.

*†‡†*

Lily and Freya stayed close and when she was finally called, Freya squeezed her hand and wished her good luck. Severus smiled at her and mouthed a quick encouragement. Lily sat on the stool and then once the felt the hat being placed on her head she waited for the voice. It was silent for a moment.

"A muggle-born…very, very smart. Lots of potential in Ravenclaw for you. Also kindness, yes and loyalty…what a hard decision…but look at your bravery. You know what is right and you do it. There's only one place to put you and that's…GRYFFINDOR!" Lily smiled and hopped off the stool. She padded her way over to the table where Sirius moved over to make room for her but she ignored him and instead sat with a boy named Jonathan Davies. The next person to join the Gryffindor first years was Remus Lupin.

"MacGregor, Freya."

James squeezed her hand for good luck before she ascended the short stairs and sat down on the stool. The hat was placed on her head for a mere second before it bellowed out a loud Gryffindor. Freya smirked as she made her way to the table and sat next to Sirius, and across from Lily.

"Well that didn't take very long," Sirius remarked. Mostly everyone laughed. Freya was smiling.

"I guess I'm just a true Gryffindor all around." By the end of the sorting, there were ten first years in Gryffindor house. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Jonathan Davies, Lily Evans, Freya MacGregor, Marlene McKinnon, Paige Williamson and Sylvia Parker. Unfortunately for Lily, Severus was sorted into Slytherin and she only caught a couple of glances at him before the headmaster stood to give his speech.

"Quiet, please," he called out to the students. The hall quickly fell into silence. "Thank you, now I want to wish all returning students a welcome back, may this school year be as prosperous as the last. To the new students, welcome to your new home, I hope you find all things accommodating and to your liking. I know you are all hungry but before we start the feast a few rules must be gone over." A collective groan sounded in the hall but the headmaster simply smiled. "Professor Sprout has planted a new tree on the grounds and students shall not, under any circumstance, approach the tree. The consequences of doing so may be deadly. A warning to all adventurous first years, the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students unless they are accompanied by an adult." His eyes scanned the crowd from behind his half-moon spectacles and then he smiled. "On that note, let the feast begin." He waved his arms and dozens upon dozens plates of food appeared on all the tables.

"Bloody hell," James exclaimed. "I've never seen this much food in one place!" His hazel eyes sparkled gold behind his large, square glasses. All the boys nodded with their mouths agape and then in a second they had mountains of food piled onto their plates, quickly stuffing as much as they could into their mouths at once. Freya and Lily glanced at one another and rolled their eyes as they giggled. Freya asked Jonathan Davies to switch seats. His mouth was too full to respond verbally so he nodded his head and then they crawled under the table both emerging on the opposite side from where they had previously been sitting. The girls grinned at each other and then began to look at the food the boys had graciously left for them. It was close to nothing.

Freya scowled. "You are all pigs, the lot of you. Not even saving any for the ladies at the table. What would your mothers say?" All the boys looked slightly sheepish save for Sirius who just snorted and kept eating which won him a short glare from both girls. Freya grabbed James' plate and hauled it over to her. He let out a mangled protest as small pieces of food fell from his mouth. Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust as Freya just grinned at him and settled for putting the plate between them. Jonathan regarded them weirdly.

"Are you two going to get married or something," he asked.

The two looked at each other and then burst out laughing. They gripped onto their stomachs and didn't stop laughing until they were both crying. James sobered first.

"You think…," he had to stop to catch his breath. "That we…could actually ever…get married?" He continued to laugh.

Freya was grinning when she replied. "Jem is like my brother not my boyfriend. We've known each other far too long to be able to look at one another in a romantic way." She grabbed a chicken wing. "I've seen Jem piss his pants and cry like he was about to die. You just don't think of people that way after a certain point." James was blushing as he glared at her.

"That wasn't half as bad as when you saw me go to the loo and you thought you could stand up and pee and made a huge mess in the bathroom. You cried for like an hour thinking the house elves were going to tell your parents." Every boy at the table broke out into a fit of laughter save Remus who tried but failed to hide his smile. Peter, on the other hand, just stared off into space. Freya's face flushed so red it matched her hair.

Lily glared at him. "Oh shut it, Potter."

James chuckled and made a face at her. "Make me, Evans." In retaliation, she picked up an apple and threw it at his face. Lily missed, though and it ended up hitting him in the chest.

Freya regained composure and her eyebrows rose. "How do you ever expect to play Quidditch if you can't even catch an apple, Jem?" He blushed but continued to glare at Lily before changing the subject.

The rest of the feast was spent exchanging stories and getting to know one another. There was a slightly hostile feeling anytime words were exchanged between James and Lily but other than that, all the first years seemed to get on fine. Remus only added his opinion once or twice throughout the conversation and Peter generally just agreed with whatever James and Sirius said. It would be an interesting couple of years for sure.

*†‡†*

At the end of the evening, when all the students and teachers lay asleep in their beds, Lily Evans lay awake in anticipation for the following school day. She had always been one of those kids that stayed up all night thinking about how the first day of school would go but this was different. She wouldn't be attending muggle school anymore and that terrified her. She barely knew anything about this world but she vowed to herself that she would learn and that by the end of the month, she'd fit in just like Freya did. Freya. Lily turned to the bed next to her own and whispered to see if she was still awake. After a moment the curtain was pulled back and a sleepy-eyed girl with startling red hair stared back at Lily. She looked around the room as if searching for a problem and when she couldn't find one, her eyebrows knit together in a silent question.

Lily toyed with her sheets. "Are you nervous," she whispered, stuttering. "I mean for school tomorrow."

Freya thought for a moment and then shook her head. "Why? Are you?"

Lily blushed but in the darkness of the room, it wasn't noticeable. "I'm just scared that…that I won't fit in. People like you belong in this world and I'm just…not like you." She shook her head. "It's a hard feeling to explain. I know I'll always have Severus but it doesn't make me feel more connected in anyway." Lily sighed. "I'm rubbish at explaining this."

"It's okay, Lily. I can't imagine how weird all this must be weird for you, but I promise that I'll try to do everything I can to make you feel more welcome." She paused. "Do you wanna come sleep in bed with me? They're kinda big." Lily nodded and crawled out of her own, her feet padding quickly over to the bed next to hers and got in before sliding the curtain closed. Their scarlet hair was almost identical to the deep velvety sheets for Gryffindor house. The girls smiled at each other and then closed their eyes, taking comfort in the feeling that only a friend could provide.

*†‡†*

Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and James Potter sat in a circle eating candy and talking as the other two members of their house slept. Being boys, the conversation was obviously about girls and Quidditch. Sirius popped a jelly slug into his mouth and eyed Remus. "So, Remus…fancy any girls?" He winked and flashed a cheeky grin at the taller boy who just blushed.

His eyes darted around the room, unsure of how to answer. "Well, they're all very pretty," he answered vaguely. He opened his mouth to say more but shook his head. "None of them would ever like me though." James chucked a chocolate frog at him.

"That's rubbish! With friends like us," he gestured between himself and Sirius. "You could have any crazy bird you wanted." He winked at Remus. "Sylvia Parker did seem to be ogling you at the welcome feast." Remus' face flushed.

"Well then what about you, James," Remus asked quickly, wanting to shift the attention form himself. "Would you really never consider Freya? She's absolutely beautiful. So is Lily Evans."

James snorted. "_Lily Evans_," he began. "Is going to be the death of me. If we were the last two people on this planet, and there were only sheep left a long with us. I'd snog the sheep." Sirius burst into laughter and Remus smiled.

"Maybe your opinion will change." Remus suggested with a shrug.

James' face wrinkled up. "Not bloody likely."

**Okay so that was the first chapter! I hope you liked it and will read on(:**

**Angela xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

Five Years Later

Freya MacGregor stood patiently waiting at Hogsmeade station next to her fuming best friend, Lily Evans. Their fifth year at Hogwarts had just come to an end and they were waiting to return back to King's Cross Station. Freya surveyed Lily out of the corner of her eye. She was tapping her foot repeatedly on the ground, her face stuck in a sour expression. After the incident with Severus, Lily had been in a constant bad mood, especially when James was around. Freya sighed. "You know, if you keep taping your foot like that, you may just put a crack in the station floor." Lily ceased the movement of her foot and rolled her eyes at Freya. She looked down at her watch and then threw her arms into the air in exasperation.

"They tell us to be down at the station fifteen minutes before nine o'clock and it's currently two minutes 'til and the blasted thing isn't even close! There has been no whistle sounded, no chugging! I doubt it's even—," Lily's rant was cut off by the distracting sound of the Hogwarts Express' whistle. Freya smirked at her friend.

The girls turned to see the train pulling up to the station. Once it had come to a full stop, they picked up their belongings and lugged them onto the train, quickly finding an empty compartment. As they worked on levitating their luggage up, their concentration was broken by the compartment door banging open, causing Lily's trunk to bang against the wall and Freya's to land on her toe. Lily let out an angry breath and Freya yelped in pain. They glared in the direction of the door to find the Marauders, led by the obnoxious Sirius Black who currently wore a goofy grin on his face.

"Hey there, ladies," Sirius began. "You seem to be having some difficulty with charms…you know I would always be willing to tutor you for a most reasonable price." He said slyly, winking at the two red heads who scoffed in reply. The girls turned their backs and slammed their luggage into place, ignoring the boys who had gathered in their compartment. Sirius watched in amusement for a second before loading up his and his mates bags and shoving them up and away so he could sit next to Lily. "You don't mind if we join you, right Evans?" She scooted closer to the window and farther away from Sirius.

"Actually, Black, we do." She spoke up, glaring at him. Sirius just grinned and flicked her nose causing her face to scrunch up.

"Well…that's too bad." He patted the seat next to him and motioned for Peter to sit. The smallest Marauder looked hesitant but finally relented after a moment. Remus was the next to sit down; choosing a safe spot near the compartment door in case anybody started a row. As Remus took his seat, Freya noticed that James didn't look up from the floor as he walked past them to sit by the window. Lily only stiffened slightly when he sat across from her, but James didn't attempt to meet her gaze or even look up. After a few moments of awkward silence, Sirius let out a long whistle. "This…this is a lot more awkward than I had expected it to be." Remus let out a short snort of laughter and Freya rolled her eyes. The train whistle blew three times to signal the departure of the students and still, no one in the compartment was talking. Freya had become fed up with her housemates' antics. She growled at them and began a mini-rant.

"Is anyone going to attempt to speak?" Sirius opened his mouth but Freya interrupted him. "Anyone besides Sirius?" He closed it and frowned at her. She sighed. "I will not sit through this train ride if all we're going to do is stare at each other." She stood up. "Lily and I are going to the loo. When we get back, I expect one of you four idiots to have something for us to talk about." Lily stood and followed Freya out who then proceeded to slam the door, causing Peter to jump.

Remus looked around at his friends and shook his head. "What have you gotten us into, Padfoot?"

Sirius looked taken aback. "What? I thought it be a good idea for Prongs and Evans to have some nice quality time on the train home. It's crucial for their growing love! Couldn't you tell how smitten Evans was when Prongsie walked in?" Peter laughed and James threw an old sweet he had discovered in his pocket at Sirius.

"Shut up, Padfoot," James grumbled. He ran his hands through his hair and let out a tired sigh. "I haven't the slightest idea of how I'm supposed to talk to Evans. She yelled her bloody head off at me the other day and now she won't even look at me! The thing with Snape wasn't even my fault! If she'd have just said she'd go out with me none of this would have happened and we'd be off snogging right now."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Prongs, Lily isn't like that and maybe you should just lay off of her for a bit and let everything cool down during summer. She just lost her best friend." James seemed to consider this for a second.

"But she's moving in with Freya, and I see Freya almost every day! How am I not supposed to see Lily along with her?"

"I'll keep you company of course, Prongs," Sirius spoke up, "that way you won't have to worry about any feisty red heads, yeah?" He winked at his friend who cracked a small smile. Just then the door slid open and in walked in said red heads. As they sat down, Freya began talking to Remus.

"Any luck with the talking situation?"

He smiled. "Actually, we were just talking about feisty red heads," he teased, "do you happen to know any?"

A smile flirted across Lily's face and Freya grinned. "I think I may be able to name a few," she joked.

The rest of the train ride carried on light heartedly and to Freya's surprise, and everyone else's, no rows took place. By the time they reached King's Cross Station it was already starting to get dark out. Freya and Lily stepped off the train and searched the platform for Nora and Daniel MacGregor, Freya's parents.

Right after Christmas break, Lily's parents had passed away. Petunia, being the only other person living in the house, sold it and moved in with her current boyfriend, Vernon Dursley. Freya had invited Lily to stay with her family that summer and offered any other time as well. She had already met Freya's parents and Lily felt she fit right in. She'd never admit it, but when she was younger, Lily had pretended to be related to the MacGregors. It was a small fantasy she would easily escape to when she had been bullied for being muggle-born.

Freya finally spotted her parents and walked over with Lily to meet them. "Mum! Dad! It's so good to see you again," she said hugging her parents. She pulled away and turned to face Lily. "You know Lily of course." Nora and Daniel nodded and smiled at her.

Nora pulled Lily into a hug as if she were her own child. "We are so sorry to hear about your loss, love. If there is anything more we can do for you don't hesitate to ask us." Not knowing what to say, Lily just smiled and nodded, hoping to look thankful. Mrs. MacGregor craned her neck up and looked around. "Now where is James? His parents had to take off just before you arrived. Ministry business if I had to guess," she mumbled to her husband. "He'll stay with us tonight." Lily paled a little bit.

"Errr…,"Freya began, glancing over at Lily. "I think he was just over there saying goodbye to his friends." Lily had a feeling this was a lie. Freya began to back away. "I'll just go grab him real fast and meet you outside, yeah?" Without waiting for a reply she took off to warn James.

Nora smiled at Lily. "I hope you don't mind it, Lily. James and his parents come 'round often during the summer." Lily faked a small smile and assured Mrs. MacGregor it was no problem, but on the inside, Lily felt like she was going to explode. Sure it was only one night but Merlin knows how much damage Potter could do in one night. She would just have to suck it up. After all, she was only a guest in the MacGregor house.

Mr. and Mrs. MacGregor had "borrowed" a muggle car that they would use to go to the Leaky Cauldron so that Lily, Freya, and James could use the Floo Network. Lily was stuffing her trunk and into the back of the car when Freya and James came jogging up to it.

"There you lot are!" James looked confused. "Wait, whose car is this?" Daniel MacGregor smiled.

"No need to worry, James. We'll make sure it's back where we got it before any of the muggles notice." A wicked grin spread across James' face and he let out a laugh. Lily, James and Freya crammed into the back seat, as Mr. MacGregor started the car. Freya made sure she was in the middle. The ride to the Leaky Cauldron was tense and awkward, but Nora had not picked up on the vibe coming from the three in the backseat so she chatted along occasionally earning a tiny acknowledgement from one of them. When they pulled up to The Leaky Cauldron, Lily practically leapt from the car in a scramble to get away from James.

"Okay, kids," Nora began. "Just take the Floo Network back to the house, and Daniel and I will meet you there shortly with all your things." She smiled reassuringly and pat them each on the shoulder before getting back into the car. When they entered, Freya went to grab a bag of Floo powder from Tom, the bar tender, leaving Lily and James standing next to the fire place awkwardly. When she returned, she held the bag out to James first who reached in and grabbed a handful. Freya shot him a look.  
"Taking a bit more than needed, don't ya think?" James just shrugged and threw it into the fireplace before stepping in himself.

"MacGregor Manor." He said clearly before disappearing. Freya held the bag out to Lily. Lily tentatively reached in and drew some out. She hated taking the Floo Networks and was already counting down the days until she could get her Apparition license. She threw in her dash of powder and stepped in after it, repeating the words as James had. She felt a tug and then she was speeding quickly away. Lily dared not to open her eyes, she was always afraid something terrible would happen if she did. After a second she felt her feet return to solid ground. Startled, and off balance, she tilted forward and threw her arms out to catch herself, but the impact with the ground never came. Instead she felt two strong hands catch her around the shoulders. She opened her eyes slightly to see a pair of shoes and some legs. The person in front of her was kneeling. Her eyes trailed up to the face of a smug looking James Potter.

"You should be more careful, Evans. I can't always be there to catch you." He grinned, "I wouldn't mind it if I was." His eyes twinkled with mischief and something else that Lily couldn't make out behind his glasses. She felt her face flush and went to remove herself from James' arms when another body came tumbling out of the fireplace, knocking Lily forward, which in turn caused James to rock back. Lily felt her face collide with something semi-hard and odd shaped as someone else's head smacked against her back, and the rest of the person's body trapped Lily's legs. James let out a strange sounding noise causing Lily to open her eyes and see her head was cradled in the middle of his lap. Her face had just been smashed onto James Potter's crotch. Lily's face turned even redder as she scrambled to get off the ground. She looked down to see his mouth had curled up into a naughty grin. He opened it to say something − something that was most likely idiotic and offending − but Lily's stern face stopped him. The person who had fallen through the fire place was Freya. She was watching the exchange between James and Lily curiously from her position on the floor.

"Was your head just on top of James'—,"

"Yes." Lily snapped. "Let's not talk about it. Ever." The grin on James' face grew bigger and Freya just shrugged and pushed herself up off the floor. Lily looked around, making sure she never made eye contact with James. They had landed in what seemed to be the library of the house. There were books everywhere; stacked on top of tables, on the floor, shelved from the bottom all the way to the top of the high ceiling. A wooden ladder could be seen at the far end of the circular room. "Wow…," Lily breathed. Freya was now standing next to Lily.

"The library is probably the best room in this place, aside from my room of course." Freya glanced around quickly. "Speaking of rooms, I'll show you where you will be staying this summer." She started to walk towards the door, motioning for Lily to follow. "I'm sure you can find your way to your room, Jem." She sent him a grin. "If you happen to get lost, just yell for a little and I'm sure we'll find you."

He snorted. "You're hilarious." He rolled his eyes and following them out. Freya led Lily down a series of different hallways and up numerous stair cases before coming to stop at a large wooden door. She pushed it open to reveal the nicest room Lily had every laid eyes on. Straight across from the entrance were glass doors that led onto a marble balcony. There was a four-poster bed that was pushed against one of the walls. It was made of a rich mahogany with a sweet canopy of white lace. There were pieces of matching furniture scattered strategically around the room, making it look like it was from a doll house. The walls were painted gold and the accent of the sheets were red…very Gryffindor. There was another door that Lily suspected led to the bathroom. She would have to check that out later.

"The house-elves will bring in your stuff when it gets here. See that bell over there," Freya asked pointing across the room to a small silver bell that rest on the nightstand next to the bed. "If you need anything, just ring it and one of the house-elves will come help you." Lily nodded and scanned around the room. "So… I was thinking maybe later tonight you might want to, go for a run in the gardens?" Said Freya, sending Lily a sly grin. At the end of their third year, Lily and Freya had been successful in becoming Animagi. Lily's Animagus form was a doe. Her identifying mark was that her eyes were an uncanny bright green, which was strange for any deer. Freya, on the other hand, was a small little fox. Unlike most red foxes, Freya's fur colour matched her human hair colour exactly making it darker than a natural fox's. They were both unregistered, and therefore had not told anybody.

It had been Freya's idea to become Animagi when one day in first year, Lily had come into the dormitory crying because of something a Slytherin had said to her. Lily believed she would never amount to anything the pureblood children could do and claimed that she and Freya had nothing in common. After that day, Freya had looked into Animagus transformations nonstop so that she would be able to make Lily feel that she was special, that the two of them shared something unbreakable, and she did, and Lily would be forever grateful to her for being there because Lily would not have been able to survive those first two years without her.

Lily smiled. "Yeah, that should be fun. You can show me around the grounds while we're at it."

"All right, well, one of the house elves will come get you when it's time for dinner. You should get comfy in here 'til then." Freya made to leave the room, pausing by the door. "I know this may not be home for you, Lily but, I think you'll really like it here if you give it a chance." She left after that, leaving Lily with her thoughts. Lily had always thought that living in the wizarding world would be so much better than having to go back to the muggle one she came from but, under the circumstances she lived in now, she'd give anything to go back to her mundane world just to see her family again—even Petunia.

She sighed and fell back onto her new bed. She must have drifted off because the next thing she knew something was touching her hand. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, turning towards the side of the bed to see a tiny creature with bat like ears, a small button nose and huge, round yellow eyes. The house elf gave Lily a tiny, unsure smile before speaking.

"Miss Lily," the tiny creature began, in a high pitched, unsure voice. "I is Tael. I have come to tell Miss that supper is now being served in the dining hall. Mistress Freya told Tael that Miss Lily may need assistance getting there, so Tael offered to help."

"Thank you, Tael. I would very much like for you to help me." Lily said politely getting out of bed and stretching quickly. She looked down at the house elf. Tael looked uncertain.

"Is it alright with Miss Lily to hold on to Tael's hand while Tael shows her the way?" Lily nodded and held out her hand for Tael to take. Once she did, they began to walk out of the room and through corridors, taking numerous flights of stairs before stopping on what seemed to be the first floor of the manor. Tael led Lily over to two large wooden doors before bowing to her. "This is the dining hall where Miss will have most of her meals." Lily smiled and thanked the elf who then apparated away with a crack.

Lily pushed open the doors and entered a long rectangular room with a table in the centre. Freya sat there alone with four other empty chairs. She looked up at the door and smiled to see Lily. "There's sleeping beauty. My parents will be joining us in a second, and hopefully so will Jem. He might have gotten lost; used to do it all the time when we were kids." She grinned to herself at the memory and pulled out the seat next to her, motioning for Lily to sit. They chatted aimlessly for a few minutes before James walked followed by Mr. and Mrs. MacGregor. Nora smiled at Lily.

"Good evening, love. I hope your room is to your liking," she asked sitting down at the end of the table.

Lily smiled and nodded. "It's really lovely. Kind of reminds me of the Gryffindor dorms."

Nora laughed. "Yes, many of the rooms have the same colour scheme. My husband thought it looked nice." She rolled her eyes and laughed with Lily. Once everyone was seated, James across from Lily and Freya and Daniel at the head of the table, the house elves began to bring out the different dishes. It reminded Lily of a smaller version of the Hogwarts welcoming feast. As they ate, Lily felt James' eyes boring into her skull and occasionally looked up to catch him staring at her. He never looked away, though. He would just hold her gaze, until she got tired of glaring at him and looked away. By the end of the meal, Lily felt the need to slam James' pretty face into his plate.

She felt Nora stand up on her left. "This has been really lovely, but Daniel and I should head up to bed now." She smiled at them as she and Mr. MacGregor walked towards the door. "You kids know that you don't have a curfew but we are trusting you to get to sleep at a reasonable time and don't try to sneak out." She pointedly looked at James who sent her a sheepish grin. Once they had left, Freya sprung up from her seat.

"Well, 'night, Jem. Lily and I will see you in the morning." She grabbed Lily's arm and made for the door before James could protest. The girls made their way up to Freya's room where they immediately flopped down onto the bed and burst into giggles. "Did you see his face at dinner?" Freya exclaimed. "He couldn't take his eyes off of you, Lily!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, trust me, I know. Merlin he is the most aggravating person I know! One would think after all the times I have rejected him he would have given up by now."

"Jem is just persistent. Especially when it comes to something he really wants." She winked at Lily who gagged. "You know… he isn't all that bad."

"Freya, how many times do we have to go over this? James was a complete prat to me for four years, and then out of nowhere he starts to fancy me and expects me to reciprocate his feelings when he is just an arrogant, bullying toe-rag with a head the size of an elephant? Sorry, but that's never going to happen. And he was also a huge arse to Severus. He still is!" She paused to catch her breath. "I can't believe Sev said that to me. He's only like that when the Marauders are around." Lily sighed and shook her head.

"I can't truthfully tell you that I ever liked Severus, but I tolerated him for you and we both know that he's always been infatuated with the Dark Arts and that infatuation has grown over the years. Lily, it wouldn't have been safe to continue being his friend anyway. If I remember correctly, you came to me complaining about him quite a lot last year."

"That's because the only thing he seemed to care to talk about was the damn Marauders! And you know he kept bringing up the fact that Remus is always ill during the full moon. I think he is starting to catch on to the fact that he is a werewolf, and with information like that, he could really hurt Remus." Freya and Lily had figured out Remus was a werewolf in fourth year but had never confronted him about it for his sake. "I know that cutting ties with Sev was probably for the best, but it still hurts. He was like my brother, Freya, and now…I can't even look at him."

Freya rolled over and looked at Lily. "We only have two years left at Hogwarts. I know that it may seem a lifetime away, but it's going to go by quick and I don't want you to waste it on missing somebody who isn't worth it. You've got me, and Remus and Marlene, and Paige and Sylvia. Lily, everybody at school loves you, except for maybe a couple of Slytherin prats but they don't matter! These next two years are going to be the best years we've had so far at Hogwarts. I promise." Lily looked at her friend and smiled.

"You're too good to me, Freya." Freya snorted and rolled off the bed. "I only do it because you're a perfect and that means perks." Lily went to smack her but she darted out of reach laughing. "C'mon, I think it's late enough for us to sneak out onto the grounds." The girls quietly walked down the corridors and staircases until they came to the backdoor. Once outside in the gardens, they took shelter in the maze. "Okay, once we transform follow me out of the other side of the maze. There is a forest that starts at the end. On the other side of the forest there's a really pretty loch. We can spend most of the night around there so we don't get caught." Lily nodded in understanding before transforming.

She felt her limbs elongating, and a short coat of brown fur begin to cover her body. Her ears felt like they were being stretched and her senses began to heighten, always checking for a predator. Once her transformation was over she looked around for Freya. A strange sort of yipping bark came from a few feet away and then Lily spotted the little red fox that was Freya. She had her ears pressed back against her head and she looked up at Lily with big silver eyes filled with mischief before darting away. Lily picked up speed to keep up with her but Freya's legs were much shorter and in no time, they were running side by side through the maze which seemed to be parting for them. After about a minute of running they came to the end of the maze where there was a short clearing before the edge of the forest. Freya nipped on one of Lily's hooves and then darted out into the forest.

They soon came to a large lake, or as Freya had called it, a loch. The water was black against the night sky and completely calm. The stars could sometimes be seen reflecting off of the surface when they hit it in the right way. It was stunning. The two walked through the rocky beach and into the water. Freya splashed around happily, getting Lily wet. The two spent most of the night running around and playing in the water, acting like children. By the time they got back to the house, the sun was already starting to rise. They had barely made it to Freya's room when they collapsed from exhaustion.

*†‡†*

It was nine o'clock in the morning and there had been no sign of Lily or Freya. James and Mr. and Mrs. MacGregor had finished eating and James was returning to his room to grab his things. On the way back, he decided to stop by Freya's room to see what the two girls had been up to the night before. He knocked on the door and even though there was no reply, he opened it anyway. He walked in and glanced around, everything seemed to be in place, and Freya usually kept a clean room. He saw two figures on the bed and walked over to find the two of them snuggled up together like children. James smiled at the sight and his eyes trailed over to Lily's face.

She looked peaceful sleeping there, he wanted more than anything to lean over and press his lips to her soft cheek, but he knew that would result in injury. Lily shifted over so that her back faced James who quickly moved to the other side of the bed allowing him the simple pleasure of seeing her face when it wasn't contorted in a look of anger.

He smiled to himself. She wasn't so threatening in her sleep. He watched her for a little while longer before he reached out a hand to trace her cheek. Her skin was irresistibly smooth under his slightly calloused hands. They had been worn out a bit after his many years of playing Quidditch. Her eyes fluttered open and she squinted them against the glare of the sunlight streaming through the windows.

"Potter?" She breathed, sounding mildly confused. "Is this a dream?"

He let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, go back to sleep."

She didn't need to be told twice. After a second, her breathing had turned even and she drifted off. James couldn't help himself anymore as he leaned down and pressed his lips softly against her forehead, letting them linger for a second before pulling back and leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

*†‡†*

Over the next couple of weeks, Lily and Freya tried their best to finish all the work they had been assigned over the break. Even through all their hard work, they still had two Transfiguration essays on the topic they would be starting to study in the fall, human transfiguration. The theories were all very complex and the girls found themselves spending their days holed up in the library, hidden within the stacks of books.

Unfortunately for Lily, James had visited quite frequently along with Sirius who had just moved in with the Potters that summer. Lily had recently met Charlus and Dorea Potter, both of whom were very kind, which led Lily to wonder how they could have raised someone like James. She had noted though, that James was beyond spoiled by his parents and that may have been a factor in his arrogant attitude. Lily had been quite successful in ignoring James but Sirius was another thorn in her foot. He seemed to pop out of thin air at the worst possible times, his only purpose in life to bother Lily or Freya. Whoever he deemed the most irritable at the time.

Freya and Lily were sitting in the library working when the doors burst open and in waltzed the Marauders. "There you girls are," exclaimed Sirius. "We've been looking for you everywhere. Wormtail here even suggested you may be dead! Imagine that." Lily rolled her eyes.

"I think I would rather be dead than have to spend time with you, Black."

Sirius clucked his tongue in disapproval and waggled his finger in her face. "Now, now, Evans, we don't need your cheek. The boys and I were thinking of going out to a see a muggle movie! They're showed in places called _kinemacs._ Remus has been telling us all about them and—," Sirius was cut off when Lily burst into a fit of giggles, which James found unbelievably adorable.

"What did you just call them, Black," she asked, trying to contain her laughter.

Sirius's brows furrowed in confusion. "_Kinemacs._ That's what they're called, right?" He turned to Remus who was shaking his head.

"Its cinemas, Padfoot, but I'll give you points for being fairly close."

Freya seemed to be interested. "All right, what's the show called?"

Sirius grinned at her. "_The Omen._ It's just come out in London and we think it be a fun experience. Your parents said it was all right s' long as you stay with us. Wouldn't want anything happening to you, lovelies."

Lily looked unsure. "Is this supposed to be a scary movie?"

"It's all right, Evans. If you get scared you can cuddle with me." A smiled spread across James' face and he opened up his arms, ready for a hug. Lily frowned.

"I don't need you to protect me, Potter."

James let out a laugh. "We'll see if you're saying that during the film."

After a little more convincing from Remus, Lily and Freya agreed to go to one of the late night showings. Peter's mother wouldn't allow him to see the movie so he was forced to turn in early, much to his delight. When the five of them arrived at the theatre, Lily was the one who went to the ticket booth to pay because she had the most experience with muggle money. After receiving their tickets and the boys bought three buckets of popcorn, they were able to go into the show room. James and Sirius wanted to sit in the front, but Lily informed them that it was much easier to watch the film from the back.

Lily's attempt to try and sit next to anybody but James failed and she was boxed in with James on her right and Remus on her left. Next to Remus was Freya and next to Freya was Sirius. James offered Lily popcorn as he tried to make conversation.

"So, did you come to the cinemas a lot before?"

Lily shook her head. "Petunia never really liked coming to see the films until she was older and by then she thought I was a freak. Severus never liked to watch them that much either, most of the time he couldn't afford it so I didn't really have anybody to go with."

James let out a small "oh" but didn't know how to carry on the conversation he so badly wanted to keep.

"Are you enjoying your summer so far," he asked, trying to keep Lily's attention.

"It's fine." She replied curtly, making a point of not looking at him.

"Do you like living with the MacGregors?"

"They're nice."

James let out a frustrated sigh and ran his hand through his hair. "Dammit, Evans! I'm just trying to talk to you." A group of people a few rows ahead of them turned around to shush James. He quickly apologized before turning back to Lily.

"I don't know what you're talking about, we were talking." She snapped at him in a whisper.

"But it's not the type of conversation I want and you know that."

She turned towards him. "Well what kind of conversation were you expecting?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe one you would actually engage in." He whisper yelled back.

"Sorry to break it to you, Potter but I'm not a house elf and I don't have to cater to your every want and need."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Do I?"

Over the course of their heated argument, they had moved closer to each other to the point where their noses almost touched. Lily didn't seem to notice but James certainly did. Her bright green eyes were lit by a familiar fire he only ever saw when they were having a row. His eyes trailed down to her delicious looking, perfectly shaped, red lips. When his eyes moved back up he saw that she was still glaring at him. Her cheeks were lightly flushed and her deep red locks of hair framed her face like a mane.

"You're a right vision when you're angry, Evans." He smiled at her. "I may kiss you." There was a scoff further down the aisle. The two turned to see Sirius and Freya grinning at them.

"If you two are done with your lovers spat, the movie looks like it's about to begin."

Lily's face began to heat up even more. She picked up a kernel of James' popcorn and threw it at Sirius. "It wasn't a lover's spat!"

Almost everybody in the theatre turned towards them and shushed Lily, making her face turn a shade darker than her hair. She sunk into her seat, trying to hide her face. She heard James chuckle to her right. She never had a stronger urge to punch him in his perfect face.

*†‡†*

During the duration of the film, James found himself watching Lily more than he watched the screen. He found it amusing that whenever there was a sudden sound, she would jump and grip tightly onto the arm rests. Or how she sometimes mumbled to herself about how stupid the characters acted. She was presently sunk low in her seat, peeping at the screen between her clasped hands. He glanced over at the rest of his friends finding that Remus had fallen asleep and Sirius and Freya had their heads bent together, talking in hushed voices. Sirius noticed James watching and looked up with a grin. He raised his hands and melded them together while gesturing to Lily. James stared at him, confused for a second before understanding dawned on him.

His eyes trailed back to Lily and he placed his opened hand on the arm rest. There was a full pause in the movie before the music began to crescendo and at the end sounded three loud bangs making Lily start. Her hand flew up to grab onto the arm rest but instead she found herself holding hands with James Potter. At first, she didn't register who she was holding hands with, just that there was a warm, comforting feeling seeping up her arm.

She looked over to see her fingers interlocked with James'. Her eyes trailed up to his face in disbelief. She saw he had a small smile on his face as he looked down at her. She yanked her hand out of his grasp and smacked him upside his head. She heard him yowl in pain but chose to ignore him. She sat facing forward, fuming in her seat. She didn't look at him for the rest of the movie.

*†‡†*

Freya and Sirius had been watching James and Lily with childish glee. Lily may out right say that she doesn't enjoy the company of James but Freya could tell that her body language meant she wanted nothing more than for him to scoop her up into his arms and hold her close. She felt Sirius' breath in her ear as he whispered to her.

"Do you think they'll ever get together?"

Freya had asked herself this question numerous times in the past, always coming up with the same indistinguishable answer. "In all honesty, I have no idea. There's obviously something between them − besides contempt − I think that James just needs to grow up a little more before Lily will go on a date with him." Freya turned her head slightly to gaze at Sirius. His grey eyes bore down into her silver ones, searching for something.

"And when will you agree to go on a date with me," he asked, his breath mixing with her own. "I want more with you than one snog session in a broom cupboard, Freya."

She smiled at him. "I'm sure you say that to all the girls you meet in broom cupboards, Sirius." He closed his eyes and groaned in false ecstasy.

"I love it when you say my name, MacGregor." He grinned down at her when he heard giggles erupt from her mouth. She smacked him playfully on the chest and he grabbed her hand, keeping it close to him. "Don't tell me you like it rough," he teased raising a devilish eye brow. "It might just send me over the edge."

She leaned in closer to him, her free hand wrapping around his neck and trailing up to his cheek, pulling him closer. A sexy growl emanated from her throat and she bit her lip looking up at him behind hooded eyes. Sirius' grin slipped off his face as he noticed their close proximity; their faces were almost touching and he felt his heart speed up in his chest. He closed his eyes in anticipation. Her lips had barely brushed his when he felt his face being pushed back. His eyes snapped open to see Freya's face contorting in laughter.

"You should have seen your face." She puckered her lips like a fish and shut her eyes leaning forward as if to kiss someone. Sirius slumped back into his chair, his face heating up. He hid his embarrassment with a joke.

"I know you want my body, MacGregor. There's no need to pretend." Freya laughed harder in reply.


	3. Chapter 3

Freya and Sirius sat alone by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. They had cuddled up on one of the large, plush red chairs; their heads bent together, as they whispered sweet nothings. Sirius kissed the tip of her nose, then her cheek, jaw and neck. He rested his head in the on her shoulder, his soft hair tickling her. She sighed as he began to plant chaste kisses all over.

"I love you." She said, running her hands up his back until they came to tangle in his hair. She pulled his head up and their eyes met for a second, communicating in a way that only lovers can. She tilted her head up to brush her lips lightly against his but he cupped her neck, pulling her closer, capturing her lips completely. His lips massaged hers in a sweet, slow kiss that could be felt from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. His tongue slipped inside of her mouth and sought out hers. They met in a swirl of passion and began to move together in familiar dance. He pulled away for breath, his mouth occupying itself with the expanse of her neck.

She let out a strangled moan. His lips soon found her sweet spot and he began to gently suck causing a wave of pleasure to course through her body. Freya gasped, her nails digging into his shoulders. "Sirius…" she breathed. One of his hands gripped tightly onto her hip as the other made its way up the side of her body, moving to softly cup her breast.

His lips detached from her neck and moved up to her ear. His deep laugh reverberated around the room. "You love too easy."

Freya was startled. She pulled away to look into his eyes. "What are you talking about, Sirius?" There was a malicious smirk on his once beautiful face. His hand moved away from her hip.

"You're a worthless little whore, Freya MacGregor. You actually thought I could love you?" He threw his head back in laughter. "I've just been using you for sex. Everybody knows you're just Sirius Black's little whore."

Freya felt an aching pain spread through her chest. "I trusted you." She pushed him off of her, in disgust. He fell back onto the floor, his laughter beginning to fade.

"I suppose that shows just how stupid and naïve you truly are." He stood up, his hand wrapped around his wand.

Freya's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing with that?" She reached for her own but couldn't find it. She began to search frantically.

"I'm loyal to only one person." Her eyes widened at his words. Dread seeped into her veins; she hoped he would not say whom she was thinking. "Lord Voldemort." He raised his wand. _"Crucio!"_ A red light burst from the tip of his wand and Freya felt as if somebody was tearing off her skin and burning her alive. She heard screams fill the room and after a second she processed that the screams were coming from her. Her brain felt fried as the white hot, searing pain came crashing down on her from every possible direction. After what felt like a lifetime, but may have only been seconds, the curse was lifted. Freya opened her eyes to find herself staring directly at Sirius' shoes. She had fallen over. He snarled down at her. "Get off the floor and die on your knees." Freya heard him but didn't move. She couldn't. He let out a frustrated growl and pointed his wand down at her. _"Avada Kedavra!"_ She closed her eyes as a jet of green light filled her vision, taking away her pain.

The next thing she knew, two hands were violently shaking her body in an attempt to rouse her. Freya's eyes flew open and she jolted awake, smacking foreheads with somebody. There was a loud groan as Lily rolled off of Freya's bed, cradling her head. Freya rolled out of bed quickly to see if Lily was okay. Lily quickly assured her that she was fine, and moved on to asking Freya why she had been screaming in her sleep.

She put a hand to her pounding forehead, lying back onto her bed. "I had the most bizarre dream…" she trailed off at the end, blushing as she remembered what exactly she had been dreaming about. "It was about Sirius."

Lily raised an eyebrow as she climbed up onto the bed to sit next to her friend. "Oh? And what was going on in this dream?"

"We were…okay we were snogging and I told him I loved him – which I don't – and then he turned all evil, pronouncing his loyalty to Who-Know-Who." Freya shuddered, remembering the look in his eyes. "He used the Cruciartus Curse on me, that's probably why I was screaming." Lily's eyes widened in horror.

"Do you remember what it felt like?" Freya shook her head. "Well what happened after that?"

"He pointed his wand at me and used the Killing Curse." Lily's jaw dropped slightly, a look of disbelief crossing her face. After a second, she began to shake her head.

"Sirius may be an arrogant prat but he would never do anything to hurt you, or any of us." Freya nodded in agreement but then shot Lily a strange look.

"How did you hear me scream? Your room isn't that close." A small grin spread across Lily's face.

"One of your house elves came running into my room while I was sleeping yelling hysterically about how you were thrashing around in your bed screaming. The poor thing looked like it was about to have a heart attack." Freya let out a small laugh.

"It was probably Tael. She's always worried I'm going to get myself killed."

"That's a valid reason to worry, seeing as how you always go looking for trouble."

Freya gasped and put a hand to her chest, faking pain. "You wound me, Lily. Trouble comes to me. The only person I know that goes looking for it is James, and he always seems to know how to get out of it, too." She sighed. "Speaking of James, he and Sirius are spending the night. Remus might come as well, but they said the details haven't been sorted yet." A Cheshire grin spread across her face. "We'll be camping in the forest out back."

"What?" Lily exclaimed. "Whose idea was that?"

"Sirius' actually." Freya looked up in thought. "I didn't know Sirius had ideas. Didn't even know he could really think either…"

Lily rolled her eyes, but her lips curled up into a smile. "Come get me when they arrive," she spoke, moving towards the door. "I'll be in my room."

Once the door had close behind Lily, Freya fell back onto her bed. She wanted to go back to sleep but feared the images that she might see if she closed her eyes. After a few minutes of staring pointlessly at the ceiling, she gathered the strength to get out of bed. She walked in to her bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her long auburn red hair was in disarray, and she had two little bags under her eyes due to her lack of sleep. She stripped off and hoped into the shower, letting the hot water wash away her troubles. As she washed her hair and lathered her body with soap, she thought of her dream. She had been snogging with Sirius, and she had liked it. Most girls at Hogwarts knew the rumours; Sirius Black was a damned good kisser, but a shitty guy. He had snogged more girls than any bloke at school and prided himself in having done so. He had never committed to any girl and he seemed to refuse to take any sort of courting relationship seriously. And yet, Freya had been dreaming about him. Why couldn't she dream about sweet, smart Remus with the pretty blue-green eyes and small smiles that could make any girl's heart melt? She sighed as her mind wondered to the end of the dream. Sirius had killed her in the name of You-Know-Who. She had heard the rumours that some people in his family were Death Eaters, but Sirius was surely different. He was sorted into Gryffindor after all. She hadn't been paying attention to what she was doing until her scalp started to hurt and her skin turned red from rubbing. She shook her head at herself and got out, drying off. Freya dressing in a baggy white shirt that slipped off one of her shoulders and her favourite pair of jean shorts. She stared at her makeup for a few minutes before deciding she couldn't be bothered to put it on. She knotted her hair in a loose side braid as she walked down to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast.

When she entered, she noticed the house elves weren't alone. Sirius sat on one of the counters, eating an apple as James sat talking to one of the house elves, Freya recognized her to be Navi. Sirius looked up at her when she entered, grinning. "MacGregor! How nice of you to join us on this fine Friday morning." He picked up an apple and tossed it to her. "You slept well I hope?" Freya dropped the apple and stared at him with disbelief. He couldn't possibly know anything, could he? After a second she shook herself out of her trance and picked up the fallen apple.

"Yeah, yeah, of course I did. Best sleep I've gotten in a long time." She looked back up at him. He raised an eyebrow, staring at her as if she had grown two heads.

"Where's Lily?" James asked, standing up and handing two pieces of buttered toast with raspberry jam over to her.

"Thank you, Jem. She's up in her room." She took a bite of the toast and walked towards the exit, motioning for them to follow. "She toed me to meet her dere when you 'rived."

The boys trailed behind her through the house, nearly knocking her over when she stopped at Lily's door. She rapped on it three times and waited. Nothing happened. She knocked again, this time calling Lily's name. When there was once again no answer, Freya turned the doorknob. She opened the door just wide enough to fit her head through. She swivelled it around, looking for her friend. No one seemed to be in the room, but a small sliver of yellow light could be seen coming from the bathroom door. She turned to James and Sirius. "Stay here, Lily might just be naked." James' eyes widened behind his glasses and he tried to peek into her room. Freya smacked him once before entering, closing the door and locking it behind her. "Lily?" She called again. There was a splashing noise from the bathroom and Freya opened the door to see her sitting in the oversized tub at the far end of the room, clouds of bubbles covering every surface within a meter of the tub. Lily smiled sheepishly.

"I may have gotten a little bit carried away with the bubbles."

Freya let out a snort of laughter. "A little bit?"

"Okay a lot, but they smell nice!"

"Right well, when do you think you'll be out?"

"In a minute, I'm starting to prune. Are the boys here yet?" Freya nodded. "All right, I'll just get dressed real quick and meet you down in the gardens, yeah?" Lily smiled for a second but then her eyes darted behind her friend and her smile slipped from her face as she let out a shriek of anger and embarrassment. Freya turned around when she heard a wolf whistle.

"Nice bathroom, Evans, although it's a little hard to see, being covered with bubbles and all." A sly smile spread across James' previously bewildered face.

"Get out! Both of you get out," Lily yelled, sinking lower into the tub. Freya attempted to push the boys towards the door, but they wouldn't budge.

Sirius pouted as he fought off Freya. "But, Evans, that ruins all of our fun! And Prongs here is simply dying to join you in that tub." He winked and pointed down to the growing bulge in his friend's trousers. James' face flushed and he smacked the back of Sirius' head.

Lily's red face could be seen amongst the ivory bubbles. "I SAID GET _OUT_!" Freya shoved the two idiots towards the door, through her room and out into the hall before Lily lost control and jinxed them, resulting in her expulsion from Hogwarts.

"How the hell did you manage to get in?" She questioned. A goofy grin turned up the corners of Sirius and James' mouths.

"The house elves were more than happy to help when we told them we needed to get into the room." James explained. Freya smacked her forehead. She had completely forgotten about the house elves! She proceeded to push them down the hall.

"Lily is going to meet us in the gardens." She looked at James. "Take care of that before she gets down." His grin fell from his face, which proceeded to blush more before he punched Sirius in the arm.

"Oi! What was that for?" Sirius rubbed his arm.

"Why the hell did you go and point it out!"

"Oh like Evans wasn't going to notice."

Freya came between the two best friends. "Enough! You're both acting like children." She grabbed onto their ears and dragged them down to the gardens where she threw them down onto a bench. "Sit here and don't move." She ordered with a very McGonagall look on her face.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "What do we look like, dogs?" He shared a secret grin with James.

"If you don't want to be treated like a dog then don't act like one." She crossed her arms and sat across from them, watching Sirius warily as he gave her his most charming smile. After what seemed like a lifetime of glaring, Lily came out, a displeased look plastered on her face. Freya stood up. "Finally," she exclaimed, joining arms with her friend.

Lily glanced over at James and Sirius. "Where's Remus?"

"His mom hasn't been feeling well this past week, so he stayed home to take care of her." Sirius covered quickly. Freya and Lily glanced at each other knowingly; the full moon had been yesterday. The Marauders didn't think the girls knew Remus was a werewolf.

"Right…" Lily said. "Well I hope she gets better."

James smiled. "We'll be sure to tell her." He and Sirius stood up, towering over the short red heads. "Merlin, you two are about the same size as the average house elf."

Lily bristled and glared up at him. "I'll have you know, James Potter, that I'm two whole inches taller than Freya."

Freya gasped and whacked her friend in the stomach. "No you're not! I'm five foot and six inches." James scoffed and Freya rolled her eyes. "Okay, five foot five, but who cares about details?"

James patted the top of her head. "Some people just aren't as fortunate as others when it comes to looks." Freya scowled and began to swot away his hand.

"You would be the ugliest girl!"

James glared down at her. "Would not!"

"Would too! Your hair looks like a rat's nest." He ran his hand through his hair self-consciously.

"Girls love my hair." He said it in a way that sounded like he was reassuring himself.

Lily snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Actually, it makes you look like a prat."

James grinned at her. "You're just too proud to admit you fantasize about playing with it, Evans." Her eyes narrowed and she stood on her tippy toes to get up into his face, but her eyes-only came to about his nose.

"You wish, Potter." They stared at each other until Sirius cleared his throat.

"Would you two please take out your sexual frustration later?" Lily went to object but Sirius carried on, turning to Freya. "Thank you, now, what have you in-store for us today, MacGregor?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Well I was thinking that maybe we could play hide-and-go-seek, and then get ice cream and then after ice cream we could make those s'mores on a campfire," Freya looked genuinely excited. "But I thought there was going to be more people. It may not be as fun with just the four of us."

Sirius patted her shoulder. "I think it sounds like a grand idea." Freya beamed.

Lily scowled at him. "You're just saying that because you want to shag her, Black."

James burst into laughter. "The truest statement I've heard all day."

Sirius just smirked. "I'm not going to deny it. You would be a great shag, MacGregor." He winked at her.

"I think I'll take that as a compliment." She clasped her hands together. "Now, is it okay with everybody to play hide and see? I've really wanted to for awhile." She looked at Lily with a hopeful look in her silver eyes.

Lily shrugged. "Its fine with me. I haven't played that game since I was little, so this should be fun." Freya turned to James with big eyes.

"Well how could I ever say no to a face like that?" He joked. "What are the rules?"

"You can only hide in the gardens. The labyrinth in the French garden is off limits because it changes too much. No house and no woods and no magic. Which means you can't ask the house elves for help. The person counting has to count to 50, okay?" Without waiting for a reply she covered Sirius' eyes with her hand. "Sirius goes first 'cause he's the eldest." She shooed Lily and James away; the two took off in opposite directions.

Sirius was complaining. "That's not fair! I can't decide my date of birth!" Freya giggled.

"Be a big boy and suck it up." Sirius continued to grumble. Freya rolled her eyes as she leaned over and pecked his cheek before moving to whisper in his ear. "Don't take too long to find me." His mouth continued to move but no noise came out. She removed her hand from his eyes and backed away slowly before taking off towards the Spanish garden. She made her way over to one of the large hedges, almost slipping in the wet grass. She got low to the ground, hoping Sirius would be too daft to look inside of the plants. After a few more minutes of silence there was a yell.

"Ready or not, here I come!" Freya waited, trying not to move around too much. She thought her hiding spot was pretty good. It was silent in the gardens, only the sound of animals could be heard when very masculine yelling started up. "You can't do that you prat! I've already found you! Prongs! Prongs get back here! Come here and loose like a man!" Freya chuckled at their immaturity. She stopped breathing when a pair of feet ran past. James had a good lead on Sirius, but the latter had begun to catch up to his friend. "I've got you now, arse hat." There was a chorus of grunting and scuffling on the floor as Sirius tackled James.

"Merlin, Padfoot. You're the same weight as a bloody Hippogriff." James sounded winded.

"Do not! I've got a great figure." There was laughter and Freya peeked around the leaves to see the two boys getting off the ground. Sirius looked around. "Do you think anyone's round here?"

"I don't know about Freya but Lily went towards the French garden. It's back this way." James started walking away but Sirius stopped him.

"Look." He pointed to the ground on Freya's left. "Footprints." Freya cursed at herself mentally; how could she forget about her little slip in the grass? James and Sirius would discover her hiding spot any minute now. If she wanted to get away she would have to run, but both boys were on the Quidditch team, how far would she get? She would have to risk it to find out. Freya got up and maneuvered her way out of the side of the hedge. She had just gotten out of the tangle of branches when a pair of arms wrapped around her middle pulling her back. Freya squealed with laughter as Sirius spun her around in his arms to bring them face-to-face. He grinned like a little boy who had just won a first place trophy. "Gotcha."

James stuck a finger in his mouth and began to gag. "Let's just find Evans and see if she'd be up to cuddling with me." The trio walked to the French garden in search of the last player. They had just walked past the lilies when Freya spotted something amiss. There was a red head of hair inconspicuously poking out from the flowerbed. Freya tugged on Sirius' arm and pointed it out. He grinned and went up behind Lily, grabbing her under the shoulders and pulling her out. She laughed and tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he held on tight to her. "Throw her here, Padfoot." James held out his arms as if to catch Lily. Sirius dropped the squirming girl into James' arms. Lily stopped laughing and scrunched up her nose. James just grinned. "What? Do I smell bad or something, Evans?" Lily jumped out of his grasp.

Sirius let out a barking laugh. "When do you ever smell good, Prongs?"

The four continued to play the game until evening. The sun had just started to set when they arrived at the clearing in the forest where they had decided to pitch their tent. Freya, Sirius, and James looked at the tent instructions with confusion written on their faces. Lily watched in amusement for a while before finally going in and helping them.

"Why do muggle contraptions always have to be so complicated?" James said after they had successfully put it up.

One of the house elves had started a small fire and left a tray of sticks, graham crackers, chocolates, and fluffy marshmallows for them to make their s'mores. Freya was sitting in a small chair by the fire, making her first s'more. She had a giddy smile on her face as she watched the white sweet begin to turn crispy brown. She stacked it on top of the chocolate and crackers, pushing it down so that the melted marshmallow oozed onto her fingers.

Sirius was looking down at his s'more with narrowed eyes. "For such a small snack, it sure is a hell of a lot of trouble. It's making my fingers all sticky." He held up his marshmallow-covered hand.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Just enjoy the food before I put one of these melted sweets in your precious hair." Sirius scooted farther away from her.

Freya looked up at Lily. "What else do muggles do when they go camping?"

Lily thought about this. "Well, I've never been camping before with my family, Petunia would have thrown a fit. But sometimes they sing songs or tell scary stories." She glanced at James and Sirius. "But maybe we shouldn't sing."

"I'll have you know," began James. "That I am a great singer, Evans."

Sirius and Freya laughed. "Yeah, if you think a dying moose yelling is a pleasant sound."

When the fire had died down and the s'mores had run out, Sirius stood up and stretched. "I'm about ready to turn in. I need beauty sleep to look this good every day." He opened the tent flap, but froze just after his head had gone in. He pulled it out, closed the flap, waited a minute and then opened it again, peering inside. "Why is this tent so small?"

"Because it's a muggle tent and we haven't put an Engorgement Charm on it."

Sirius looked bewildered. "It's tiny!"

"Are you joking, Sirius? It says on the box it fits six grown men. That should be big enough for the four of us." He continued to complain. "Would you rather sleep outside?" He shook his head. "Then stop acting like a four year old." Freya marched into the tent; grabbed James and Sirius' sleep wear and tossed it to them. "You two change out here while Lily and I change in there."

"Why can't we just all change together?" James suggested with a smile.

Lily gave him a look. "Do you really need that question to be answered?" James shrugged and took off his shirt. Throwing it to Lily. She caught it and looked at him strangely. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Wear it of course. You'll look good in it." She frowned and threw it back at him.

"I don't want your nasty clothes, Potter." She snapped at him before disappearing into the tent with Freya close behind.

Sirius and James changed quickly, but they were often distracted by the noises coming from the tent. There was a lot of giggling and shuffling going on. After a few more moments, Freya poked her head out. She wore a grin on her face.

"Okay, you guys can come in." James went in first. Inside, the tent was lit up by a muggle contraption called a flashlight, or as Lily had said, a torch. James frowned when he saw the sleeping arrangements; Lily was at the far end of the tent. He sat down next to Freya. After Sirius climbed in and closed up the entrance nice and tight, Freya switched off the torch, plunging them into the darkness. "Well, night everyone." Sirius grumbled about having to sleep next to a bloke.

James stared up at the top of the tent, he hadn't taken off his glasses, he had a plan. After a little while, Sirius' breath turned even and he began to lightly mumble to himself, which meant that he had fallen asleep. James rolled onto his side to face Freya. "Switch places with me," he whispered.

Freya looked, unsure. "Lily will kill me."

"I'll tell her that I moved you over when you were asleep." She contemplated this.

"All right, roll over." She climbed over James as he rolled over, moving towards Lily. James took off his glasses and placed them by his pillow.

Lily's chest rose and fell rhythmically, and she had a peaceful look on her face. James tentatively put a hand on her waist, watching for her reaction. When she didn't do anything, he wrapped his arm around her fully, pulling her sleeping form against him so that her back was pressed to his chest, and they shared the same blanket. Lily smelled like freshly picked flowers and her sugary scented hair tickled James' senses. It felt nice to hold her like this, he thought. It felt more than nice, it felt undeniably right. Why couldn't she see that? He was pulled out of his thoughts when she started to stir. James froze. Lily didn't open her eyes and begin to yell at James like he had expected her to do, instead she turned around and nestled her head in the crook between his neck and shoulder, sighing contently. One of her small hands came up and rested against his chest, directly over his heart. A huge smile over took James' features as he drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the girl in his arms.

*†‡†*

Freya and James had just switched places and she now stared at Sirius' back. She moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his middle placing her head between his shoulders. She felt him tense up before he turned around to face her. Once he laid eyes on her, he let out a sigh of relief.

"For a second there I thought you were Prongs." He whispered.

Freya giggled quietly. "Nah, just me."

Sirius smiled. "Just you." He snaked his arms around her, pulling her close as his hands trailed down her back to her bum. Freya smacked his arm playfully as he grinned.

"What?" He asked in false confusion.

"Keep your hands away from my bum." She joked.

His eyes lit up. "I just can't get enough of you." His hand moved to her cheek as he gazed down into her eyes, grey meeting silver.

"You should go to bed." She whispered, afraid if she let him get any farther, they'd kiss and after that nothing would be the same.

"But I'm wide awake."

Sirius dipped his head down, as if to kiss her, but she ducked hers and placed it on his chest. She felt him stiffen again, but soon he relaxed, settling for placing a lingering kiss on her forehead.

How could this Sirius be the same one from the dream she had experienced the night before? It was impossible. He may not always act like it but Sirius was a gentle soul, and he was caring and brave and unbelievably loyal. He wouldn't hurt her, at least not in that way, but Freya knew his reputation and knew she was stupid for thinking she could change him. Every girl at Hogwarts believed that they would be the one to tame Sirius Black, but Freya wouldn't be so naïve. She had to stop getting close to him, but she couldn't help it. She was a moth and he was the brightest flame, and she found herself going back to him even though she knew it would burn her, hurt her, kill her. She placed a kiss to the base of his neck, right between his collarbones.

"I'm sorry."

*†‡†*

Sirius lay wide-awake thinking of what Freya had said. She had apologised, but for what he didn't know.

*†‡†*

The full month of July had passed fairly quickly in Lily's mind for she had been having an unrivalled amount of fun with Freya. The girls had spent nights running wild in the forest and they had spent mornings dancing in the flowers. They were currently at the loch, sitting on one of the large stones that jutted out of the water. They had received their Hogwarts letters that morning and because of that, a feeling of anxiousness had crept up on them. They would be taking NEWT level classes that year. While the impending doom of school was still present in the back of Lily's mind, most of her thoughts were elsewhere.

She enjoyed living with the MacGregors. She was spending the summer carefree and wild in this manor so much like a sanctuary that… she had forgotten to think of her parents. She had visited their gravesite at the beginning of July, but never went back to visit again. The guilt of being happy when she knew she 'ought to be sad had begun to eat away at Lily. She played with her fingers, her eyes staring down at her lap.

"Freya, am I a bad person for being happy?" Lily didn't see it, but Freya's eyebrows shot up.

"What kind of a question is that?"

Lily sighed, twiddling her thumbs. "My parents are dead, and I'm running around in the wizard world acting like nothing is wrong. I have barely thought of them since the beginning of summer. I only visited their graves once! I'm a terrible daughter." Lily hid her face in her hands at the realization.

She heard Freya climb over the large rock to sit closer on Lily's left side. "Listen to me," she grabbed Lily's wrist and lowered her hands from her face. She looked up into Freya's intense, silver eyes. "You are not a terrible daughter. Your parents loved you and they would have wanted you to be happy." She paused, breathing in deeply before continuing. "Everybody dies, Lily. One day, I'm going to die, my parents are going to die. Even Dumbledore is going to die. We can't protect our loved ones from death and the sooner we realise that, the easier it will be to accept the fact that it's inevitable and instead of mourning their loss, we can celebrate their life." She reached up and wiped a stray tear from Lily's face. "When the sunsets on one horizon, remember that it's rising on another." Lily's resolve broke as she wrapped her arms around Freya's waist and cried onto her shoulder. She heard her sigh. "You know, I used to be really shit at comforting people, but I think that went pretty well, yeah?" Lily laughed through her tears.

Once she had calmed down a bit, she looked up at her friend. "Am I a burden?"

Freya laughed and wrapped her arms tighter around Lily. "Nah, you're not anything but a blessing to me, love." She stood up, bringing Lily with her. "C'mon we should head back to the house for some lunch." They hopped off the rock and walked out of the shallow tide pool, back onto the rocky beach. The walk back to the house was filled with more laughs than it was with tears and for that, Lily was grateful.

*†‡†*

That evening, Lily and the MacGregors went to the Potter's house for supper. Nora had told the girls at lunch to dress nicely and so for the rest afternoon Freya and Lily had rummaged around in each other's closets trying to find something to wear for the other. In the end, Lily picked out a white sundress with off the shoulder sleeves for Freya. It ended just above her knees; her feet clad in a pair of brown flats. Lily pulled Freya's hair back into a half-up half-down look that matched her own. While Lily had gone for a cute, classy look for her friend, Freya had gone for something a little bit more revealing. She had picked out a midnight blue sundress that ended mid-thigh; it was held up only by two thin straps. Sparkly silver sandals adorned her pale feet making them look even paler. When the girls stood side by side in the mirror, anybody who didn't know them would think they were sisters.

They arrived at the Potter's house at exactly 6:00 p.m. via side-along Apparation. Freya quickly knocked on the door. After a moment, it swung open to reveal a head of messy black hair. James ran a hand over his head quickly, attempting to tame his wild locks, but as always they remained sticking up everywhere. He gave a sheepish grin to Nora and Daniel as he ushered them into the foyer. Mrs MacGregor leaned down to kiss James on both cheeks before moving down the hall, followed by her husband. Lily stood by awkwardly as Freya and James embraced quickly. When the two of them pulled away James sent a winning grin at Lily. "Evans," he said nodding at her. Lily let out a very unladylike grunt in reply. James led them down the hall to the dining room where, everybody else was situated. Sirius' mouth curled in a cheeky grin and he waved at them from his seat at the table.

Mrs Potter looked up, a smile flitting across her worn face. She stood up and walked over, pulling Freya into a tight embrace. "Freya, how nice to see you again, dear." She let go of her and took a step back to examine her. "You look lovely, how have you been? Enjoying your time away from school?" Freya nodded.

"It's been a really fun summer with Lily around. You've met Lily before right, Mrs Potter?" Dorea looked at Lily with a smile.

"Oh, of course," she exclaimed taking Lily into her arms. "I've heard so much about Lily Evans." She pulled away and held her at arms-length as she did with Freya. "James has said so much about you." Mrs Potter's eyes trailed up Lily's body. "He certainly hasn't left out how beautiful you are."

"Mom!" James' face had gone red from his mother's embarrassment. Freya giggled and Dorea winked at Lily.

"Come sit down," she said pulling Lily along to sit across from Sirius. "Supper is just about to start." Once everyone was seated, Mr Potter rang a silver bell in the middle of the table and eight house elves cracked into the room carry all sorts of different dishes.

Lily glanced up at Sirius to see that he had piled mounds of ham onto his plate, shaking the salt on top as if his life depended on it. He could be such a dog sometimes. Lily looked around unsure of what to eat. She settled for scooping a little bit of everything on to her plate. James and Sirius kept shooting glances at each other and whispering things out of the side of their mouths. It was starting to annoy Lily.

"So Lily," spoke up Mr Potter from the other end of the table. "What classes will you be taking next year?"

"Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfigurations, Herbology, Charms, and Arithmancy. Freya and I are taking the same classes."

"That's a good set of classes to take," he commented. "What field of work would you want to go into after you finish Hogwarts?"

"Well, I have narrowed it down between an Auror and a Healer, they require the same amount of Newts and I like both of them a great deal. Hopefully I can make a choice by the end of my seventh year."

Mr Potter nodded. "Those are both great fields to go into. Mr MacGregor and I used to be partners in our days at the Auror Office." He grinned at his old friend. "Hopefully our children can carry on our legacy, eh?" He smiled warmly at James and Freya the latter of the two looked like she had something stuck in her throat but forced a smile anyway. James had a boyish smile on his face.

"The first thing I'm going to do after Hogwarts is apply for Auror Training with Sirius." Mr Potter smiled at his son.

"That's my boy." He said proudly. Freya was looking down at her plate as if she was about to be sick. Lily nudged her in the side with her elbow, causing her to look up. They made eye contact and Freya mouthed "Later".

Lily faced forward again and caught Sirius staring at them. He raised a questioning eyebrow, but Lily just glared at him and shook her head. He shrugged and went back to eating his dinner. She glanced over to his right to look at James who had been watching her. He smiled when their eyes met but Lily quickly averted her gaze.

*†‡†*

After dinner had finished, the boys took off upstairs straight away. Freya led Lily up to one of the studies so they could talk in private. As soon as Freya had closed the door behind her, Lily pounced like a concerned mother bear.

"What's wrong? Is everything all right? Talk to me."

"Merlin, Lily, at least let me it down."

She backed off a little. "Right, sorry, I'm just worried." The girls sat down on the couch and Freya began to talk.

"My parents want me to be an Auror and I've always been absolutely okay with that, but as I've grown up, I feel so much more pressure coming down to rest on my shoulders." She paused. "They want me to be like they were, but I don't know if that's what I want. I'm not nearly as talented as you or James or my parents and—,"

"Freya, you're a complete idiot if you don't think you're talented. You're one of the most powerful witches I know. You were the always the first one in Defence Against the Dark Arts to get the spells right, and you always did the best on the practicals." Lily smiled at her. "Everybody always tells me how good I am at Charms, but I wouldn't be half as good as I am without you." She poked her friend in the chest. "Your parents have an endless amount of things to be proud of you for."

Freya gave her a small smile "Thanks, Nugget." Lily rolled her eyes.

"You know how much I dislike that nickname."

"Its better than Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot or Prongs." The girls shared a smile and giggled.

Lily's brow furrowed. "I can see how they got Moony for Remus, but where do you think all the other nicknames are from?"

Freya shrugged. "The hell if I know. Probably made them up when they were drunk." Lily giggled.

"While you think of that, I need to use the loo." Lily stood up and made for the door as Freya quickly gave directions. She made her way down the long hall but stopped when she heard voices coming from a door at the end. She looked around to see if anybody was around; the hall was empty save for a few sleeping pictures. Lily quietly crept up to the door and pressed her ear against it, straining to make out what the voices behind the door were saying.

"I don't know, Padfoot, she drives me mad. I can't seem to act normal around her and whenever she's near, I don't think straight; I can't." It was James. Lily guessed he was talking to Sirius but about whom, she didn't know.

"I don't know what to tell you, Prongs. Remus is the one who is good at giving advice on girls. Which is funny considering he has never had a girlfriend."

She heard a sigh. "I wish I could go back in time and make a better impression on her." There was a pause. "Are you still trying to snog Freya?"

Sirius' deep laugh sounded through the door. "Yeah I guess you could say that, but things with my family are getting complicated and I haven't really been able to think of girls. I'm sure you know that my mother and father have been sending me Howlers since I left the house." Lily could picture Sirius leaning back on his chair and crossing his arms like he so often did in class. "They're complete nutters, the lot of them. I can't believe Regulus lets them control him the way he does. They always go on about how he's a better son. Like I should care I'm a disappointment."

"Padfoot, you know it's not inhuman to want to have your parents' approval."

"Yeah but he shouldn't have to do the things he does to get it," Sirius snarled. "You don't know what it was like, having to live in that house." There was a long pause. "I'm sorry for snapping, Prongs. You and you're parents have been nothing but gracious and I've been a complete prat."

"'Course you haven't! Mum and Dad love you, and Mum's been asking for the past three years when you were going to come move in with us. You know she was a Black, too."

"I'm just glad she didn't turn out like the rest of my mucked up family. Thanks for listening…" Lily was sure he said more but she had backed out of hearing range, feeling uncomfortable for eavesdropping on the conversation.

Once she had returned to the room after visiting the loo, she told Freya everything she had heard through the door. She had a thoughtful look on her face. She started listing random facts she knew about Regulus and the rest of the Black family

"The oh so Noble and Most Ancient House of Black." She let out a snort. "Is full of inbred mongrels and pure-blood maniacs. They're one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight." Freya rolled her eyes. "It's a load of tosh if you ask me."

"What's the Sacred Twenty-Eight?"

"It's just a dumb name that was given to twenty-eight pure-blood families who have never had any connections with muggles or muggle-born wizards."

Lily looked confused. "But you and James are from old pure-blood families… why are your names not on the list."

"Most likely because the person who made the list thought we had some ties with muggles. It doesn't matter much to us anyway. My mother's family is on the list though: Macmillan."

"Oh, well, you were saying?"

"Right! Regulus Black is two years younger than us. He was sorted into Slytherin. He just started playing Seeker for their Quidditch team last year in his third year. He mostly hangs around with Snape and the kids of the rumoured Death Eaters."

"Wait?" Lily stopped her. "He hangs around with Severus and who?" Freya looked at her curiously.

"Didn't you know?"

Lily shook her head in disbelief. "I always knew they were bad kids but I didn't realise their parents were Death Eaters."

"Well the Ministry doesn't know for sure, but there are rumours about who is really a supporter of You-Know-Who and who isn't."

"Doesn't the Ministry do anything to these people?"

Freya shrugged. "Some of the families have too much power. You know how corrupt it's gotten. They just pay them off, but sometimes the Ministry will search the houses, but they never find anything."

"Is anybody in Sirius' family a rumoured Death Eater?" Lily asked.

"Yes, but not his mum or dad. I'm not sure if Regulus is, he may be too young but Bellatrix Lestrange is supposed to be absolutely crazy. Her and her husband Rodolphus. The Malfoy family is also known to support You-Know-Who but they have too much power and so nobody can really do anything about it."

"That's bollocks! How can they not do anything? People will die and all they care about is getting money?" Lily's face wore a look of outrage.

"That's just how the Wizarding World works I guess."

"Well it's complete nonsense!"

"It's also reality, Lily. That's the world we're going to have to live in after we graduate from Hogwarts. Hopefully the war will be over by then."

There was a pregnant pause. "Do you think the war will be over by then?" Lily asked, somewhat hopefully.

"I honestly have no idea, with the way things are looking right now, this war is going to go on forever."

*†‡†*

When the MacGregors and Lily were leaving, James and Sirius came down to say goodbye, telling the girls the next time they would meet would be on the train to Hogwarts. Lily was relieved. She looked over at Sirius who seemed to be his usual arrogant, loony self but she couldn't help but remember the conversation she had overheard.

He sent her a grin. "Why are you staring at me?" Going against her nature towards Sirius, she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. He tensed up but after a moment he relaxed and hugged her back. "Don't tell me you fancy me, Evans. Prongs would skin me alive."

Lily smiled. "Nope, you just looked like you could use a hug."

"Yes well it was a very nice hug…thank you."

Lily walked towards the door with everybody else. "Don't expect another one, Black."

Sirius chortled. "I'll continue to dream then." She sent him a smile and disappeared out the door with Freya. James was giving Sirius a look. "What?"

"Why did she give you a hug?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Maybe because I don't cuddle up to her while she is sleeping and doesn't know what is going."

James blushed. "What Evans doesn't know won't hurt her. And hey, she didn't complain."

"That's because she was unconscious."

The two made their way back up the stairs, continuing to banter like an old, married couple.


	4. Chapter 4

Lily woke up with a start; somebody was shaking her. "Lily, if you don't get up we are going to miss the perfects' meeting." Her eyes opened slightly to see Remus staring down at her. She turned her head and ignored him, mumbling on about needing more sleep. She and Freya had stayed up all night making sure all their things were packed, checking to ensure that they had enough money and finally looking through all their homework. Remus sighed. "I was really hoping it wasn't going to come to this." He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. For someone who looked tired and weak all the time, Remus was actually pretty strong.

Lily smiled and laughed. "Alright, alright, I'm up, let me down you giant troll." He placed her back on the ground. Lily looked down at herself. "I should have gotten more sleep. I probably look like a right mess."

Remus pulled her out into the hall. "You look fine, Lily, relax." The two walked towards the front of the train to the perfects' carriage. Frank Longbottom and Alice Prewett stood at the front of the compartment talking. Lily smiled and bounded over to the couple. Frank and Alice had already been dating for two and a half years. The pair seemed to be inseparable; Lily thought it was unbelievably cute.

"Congratulations! I always knew you two would be Head Boy and Girl." She hugged them both.

"Thank you, Lily. I know for sure you'll get it next year. Dumbledore would be daft if he didn't pick you for Head Girl." Alice pulled back from the hug and smiled at her. Alice had a cute round face with girly blue eyes. Her face was outlined by her short blonde hair. Frank on the other hand was tall with dark brown hair and matching eyes. He had a strong build; his large hands were sometimes a bit awkward for he played Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He was smiling at her.

"Thanks, Lily, but you had better take a seat, the meeting will be starting soon." She smiled and whispered to Alice about talking later before quickly taking a seat next to Remus. "Alright, everybody. I'm sure you all know who we are, but for those you don't, I'm Frank Longbottom and this is Alice Prewett and we will be Head Boy and Girl for this school year at Hogwarts." There was a short pause for applause, where everybody clapped, except for two of the Slytherins who had scowls on their faces. "To start things off we would like to welcome all new fifth year students. Congrats on becoming a perfect, it will be hard work, but I'm sure you will enjoy it." Frank and Alice smiled at the new students who all looked happy but embarrassed to be called out on their first day. The meeting continued on with Frank and Alice quickly discussing how there would be another meeting soon about weekly patrol schedules as well as Quidditch practices and games and Hogsmeade weekends. The meeting was concluded by Alice handing out a piece of paper with the train patrol times and partners. Lily had been paired with Mason Davies, a sixth year Ravenclaw perfect. They were scheduled to patrol first. Mason was the twin brother of Jonathan Davies, one of the beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch team alongside Sirius. Lily had never really associated with Mason but when she looked up and saw him she questioned her intelligence and all other reasoning.

Mason looked to be a bit taller than her with a nice even build. Lily could see he had bronze, shaggy hair and a big smile. She couldn't make out the colour of his eyes, but was sure it was just as pretty as the rest of him. She stood up and walked over to him.

"Mason Davies…?" She asked shyly, tucking a strand of dark wine red hair behind her ear. He grinned at her. Lily noted he had really nice teeth.

"Lily Evans." He stood up, towering over her. "We have patrols together, don't we?" She nodded quickly. "Sounds good to me; let's go." He escorted her to the door where once in the hall they began their patrol. "We've had a couple of classes over the years but I've never gotten the full pleasure of being properly introduced to you." He held out his hand. "Mason Davies, at your service." Lily blushed and gently shook his hand.

"Lily Evans, pleasure to make your acquaintance."

He brought her hand up to his lips and placed a soft kiss to her knuckles making Lily turn even redder. "The pleasure's all mine." He straightened and let go of her hand, resuming their walk. "So, Lily, tell me a bit about yourself."

"Well, I'm a sixth year, like yourself," he nodded following along. "I have a pet owl named Squeaker." Mason raised one of his eyebrows. Lily hurried on quickly. "I know it's a funny name but I thought it was cute."

"No, no, it is cute." He quickly reassured her. Lily blushed and played with a strand of her hair as she continued to tell Mason little facts about herself. By the end, Mason had a huge grin on his face. "I think it's safe to conclude that you are absolutely the most adorable, intelligent witch I have ever met." She beamed up at him.

"I think I deserve to know a little bit about you now, yeah?"

Mason chuckled. "But of course. Where to begin," he tapped his chin in thought. "I suppose Quidditch is a safe place to start." He smiled at her. "I'm the Ravenclaw Keeper and Captain, I have been for two years. I have three older sisters and a twin brother, but I'm sure you know Jonathan. I have a couple a fake teeth from Quidditch, my favourite class is Arithmancy, I collect Chocolate Frog Cards, my favourite colour is blue, and I have an owl called Pumpy."

Lily giggled. "What made you call him Pumpy?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure, really. He just kind of looked like a Pumpy."

The two carried on the rest of their patrol talking about small, trivial things and by the time their shift was over, they had grown quite found of each other. Mason was currently dropping Lily off at her compartment. She smiled at him and caught his eyes. They were a warm, golden honey brown. She was about to say something when the compartment door slid open to reveal a laughing James Potter, though once he caught sight of Lily and Mason he stopped laughing.

"Davies. What are you doing here?" He asked rudely, leaning against the side on the door.

Mason squared his chest up a little. "Lily and I just finished our rounds and I was dropping her off." He said gesturing to his side where she stood, glaring at James.

James' eyes narrowed. "Well you can obviously leave now, she's here."

Lily bristled. "Oh, get your panties out of their twist, Potter and leave us alone for a minute; we were talking."

He crossed his arms. "Anything you were about to say to Davies in private you can say with me here."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to Mason. "I'm sorry about him, he can be a real prat when he puts his mind to it." He chuckled and waved his hands in a dismissive manor.

"It's alright. I hope to see you around more often, Lily. I had a lot of fun patrolling with you and I'd like to get to know you even more." Her heart fluttered in her chest at his words.

Lily glanced at James out of the corner of her eye before she leaned up and pressed her lips to Mason's cheek. "I'd like that as well." She said with a bright smile on her face. Mason had gone a bit red and his face was taken over by a large grin. He nodded quickly at James before leaving, glancing back at Lily once. She sighed happily as she watched him leave but was quickly brought back to reality when James gripped her upper arms and turned her to face him.

"What the hell was that, Evans?" He growled, his eyes narrowed to angry slits. Lily glared back at him.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Potter." She spat, feigning ignorance.

"I'm talking about how you kissed Davies just to spite me." Lily laughed, but it was devoid of humour.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I kissed _Mason _because I fancy him. Or did you just think that I couldn't possibly fancy someone other than you?" James didn't reply so Lily went on. "I hate to break it to you, Potter but not everything revolves around your giant, fat_head_!" She went to wiggle out of his grasp but James let go of her. He stepped around her and walked off down the corridor.Lily turned towards the opened compartment to see everybody frozen in place, staring in her direction. "What?" She snapped irritably. They all turned away and continued what they had been doing before the row. Lily sighed and flopped down next to Freya who was giving her a look.

"Was the kiss in front of James completely necessary?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"I don't need you to be on my case about this, too." Freya threw her arms up in exasperation.

"You know how much he likes you, Lily and you looked right at him before kissing Mason!" Lily opened her mouth to object but Freya silenced her. "Don't lie I saw you look at him. It's cruel, not just to James but to Mason as well. You're letting him think he has a chance when really you're just using him to spite James."

A hurt look passed across Lily's face. "You're supposed to be my friend."

Freya sighed. "I am your friend, Lily, but I'm Jem's friend, too." She rested a hand on her friend's shoulder and stood up. "If you really like Mason, then I'm happy for you because he seems to like you just as much, but if you're just doing this to make Jem jealous then just know that I don't agree with what you're doing." She left the compartment, most likely to go look for James. Lily slouched back into the seat, defeated.

Of course she liked Mason, she thought to herself. What wasn't there to like about him? He was attractive, smart, funny, kind, and he seemed to really care about what she had to say. And yet… she felt as though there was still something missing. Lily sighed and buried her face in her hands, as if to rub away the stress of her current situation. She closed her eyes and thought of Mason's warm, honey coloured ones, but as she went to picture them, only angry hazel eyes stared back at her.

*†‡†*

Freya walked down the long, narrow train corridor, searching for James. After his little row with Lily in the hallway he had taken off without a word and that worried her. She was about to give up when she heard a resounding thud come from one of the compartments. She slid the door open to find James leaning forward, his hands placed on either side of his head that rested on the wall. He didn't look up. She slid the door shut and walked over to him and rubbed his back, attempting to calm him.

"What are you doing, Jem?" Her voice was filled with concern. He let out a huff of breath but didn't reply further. She pulled him down to floor so that they sat pretzel style, facing each one another. James had his head turned to the side, refusing to look at her. Freya grabbed his hands and started to play with them. His Quidditch worn hands were much bigger and tougher than her soft skinned petite ones. "Why are you acting like such a child? You and Lily get into a row at least once a week." James laughed bitterly.

"Yeah but this time it was different."

Freya raised an eyebrow. "Because she fancies Mason?" His head snapped around to look at her.

"She fancies him?"

She shrugged, continuing to play with his hands. "I think she might." She looked up in thought. "I think Mason is the only other bloke she's fancied since her small crush on Remus in third year." James looked surprised. "Lily never tried anything with Remus obviously, but I think she might with Mason." His surprised face morphed into an angry one.

"If Davies does anything with Lily I'll knock him off his broom."

Freya gave him a look. "You know you don't own Lily so you can't make her do anything or stop someone from trying to go out with her, and why don't you call her by her first name to her face?"

"I don't know, most likely from habit but that's not the point. Davies is the Captain for Ravenclaw and what if he's just using Lily to spy on my Quidditch practises?"

She rolled her eyes. "Jem, not everybody is as crazy as you when it comes to Quidditch. Besides, Mason looks like a genuinely likes her." She shrugged. "And he's cute."

James scowled. "I'm cute, too!" Freya laughed.

"Yeah but you're too arrogant and immature for Lily. Plus, you bullied her best friend for five years. Maybe you should try and go out with a different girl." She suggested nonchalantly.

"But I don't want another girl. I want Lily." He whined.

"Yeah well Lily doesn't want you. She may never want you. Not as long as you keep acting like a prick to her."

James ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I know but I can't help it! My brain just freezes up when she's around." He gave her a hopeful look. "Will you help get her to go out with me?"

Freya sighed and contemplated this. "I'll tell you what. This year I want you to try and date other girls." James looked repulsed. "Let me finish. Try to look at other girls and give them a chance but if by the end of the school year you still have your heart set on Lily then I will help you get her over the summer. Deal?" James eyed her suspiciously. He stuck out his hand, his pinkie outstretched.

"Swear on it." Freya smiled and interlocked their little fingers together. They leaned forward and kissed their joined hands just like they always had when they were little.

"I promise." Freya looked around the compartment as if noticing they were alone for the first time. "How did you get this empty compartment?" She asked suspiciously. James grinned.

"I may have kicked out a few first years." Freya shook her head in disapproval but laughed anyway.

They sat together in the compartment for the rest of the ride to Hogwarts. They didn't say much, but they took comfort in knowing the other was there.

*†‡†*

Lily stepped off the train and looked around, trying to find any sign of red hair that matched her own. She spotted Freya standing next to Hagrid; the two were deep in conversation. As Lily walked over she noticed the Marauders goofing off around the lake by the first years but one member of their gang was missing. Lily and James had gotten into rows before but this time something had felt different and the whole train ride she had not been able to shake that feeling. She was pulled from her thoughts when two fingers snapped in her face.

"Earth to Lily. I repeat, earth to Lily." Freya was standing next to her friend, trying to see what had been preoccupying her attention. She noticed where Lily's gaze was pointed and squinted to get a better look. "Are you staring at Remus' ass?"

"No!" Lily replied quickly. "I was just thinking."

Freya raised an eyebrow, a small smile slowly taking over her face. "About Remus' ass?"

"Of course not," she exclaimed at her grinning friend."Let's just go grab a carriage." Lily grabbed onto Freya's forearm and dragged her over to the line of empty carriages. After finding one and settling in, they were joined by Sylvia Parker and Paige Williamson, two other Gryffindor sixth years. "Hey guys," Lily greeted amiably. "How was your summer?" Paige had bright blue eyes and chestnut brown hair. While many of the guys thought she was cute, most of the time she was overshadowed by Sylvia whose blonde hair always looked pin straight and blue eyes sparkled. Paige was a lot more shy and quiet than Sylvia and usually let her friend speak for her.

"We had a really lovely summer, Lily. Thank you for asking." Sylvia answered as if she had rehearsed the sentence. "And I trust you both had good summers as well?"

Lily smiled back. "Yes, it was a lot of fun being able to spend it with Freya." She glanced over at Freya who wore an expression of weariness. Lily jabbed her with her elbow, causing her to sit straighter and smile at the girls opposite them. The smile looked more like a grimace.

Sylvia leaned forward as if telling a secret. "I heard you and James Potter got a bit cosy this summer and that's why he was so angry with you on the train when he saw you with Mason." Lily drew back, in shock.

"No! Who's saying this?"

Sylvia shrugged and leaned back in her. "I don't know, I just heard two Hufflepuffs talking about it in the train corridor." A sly smile spread across her face. "Is he a good shag?"

Lily's shock turned to anger. "We didn't shag!" She huffed and crossed her arm, refusing to say anything more. The rest of the short ride up to the castle was filled with idle chit-chat from Sylvia who occasionally let Paige say something.

Second through seventh year students were escorted into the Great Hall where they were instructed to sit down and wait for the Sorting Ceremony to begin. Lily and Freya sat at the far end of the table across from the Marauders. Sirius wore an impatient expression. "When are we going to eat?" He exclaimed loudly, causing the whole of the Great Hall to laugh. There was a twinkle of amusement in Dumbledore's eyes.

"Do not worry, Mr Black, the feast will begin shortly." And sure enough not a minute later, the doors to the hall burst open to reveal Minerva McGonagall leading a neat line of nervous looking, jittery first years. When they reached the front of the room, the Sorting Hat began to sing. Many of the first years looked surprised. After the song ended, Professor McGonagall unrivalled the long scroll containing the list of first years' names.

"Alistair, Lucas." She called out, beginning the Sorting.

*†‡†*

Lily woke up extra early the next day despite the fact that she had headed to bed late the night before. She hoped in the shower, humming happily. Gryffindor had gotten eight new first years at the Welcome Feast, all who seemed delighted to be Sorted into the house Albus Dumbledore himself had been in. Once Lily finished with her wash, she dried her hair with her wand and woke up Freya. She shook her friend's sleeping form. "Freya," she whispered loudly. "Get up. It's half past six." Freya groaned and pushed Lily away.

"Gerrof me. It's too damn early." Lily sighed. She walked over to her trunk and pulled out a bag of sweets.

"If you wake up now I'll give you some of my Jelly Slugs." She said dangling the small bag over Freya's nose. One of Freya's eyes popped open and she examined the bag.

"Alright give me a minute." She got out of bed and grabbed the sweets as she headed towards the shower. Lily smiled and shook her head at her friend's antics as she dressed in her school robes, checking in the mirror to make sure her gold and scarlet tie was straight in her jumper and her black skirt was smooth. She threw her black robe over her creaseless white shirt before grabbing her wand and putting it in her pocket. Lily threw on some light makeup as Freya emerged from the loo a moment later, the water in her dark red hair making it appear like blood. She popped the last sweet in her mouth as she dressed. When she was done she wondered over to Lily and started to put on a small amount of makeup as well. "So…why did you wake me up at this ungodly hour?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"It's only seven o'clock, Freya and you had better get used to waking up early now that summer is over. Besides," Lily positioned her pointed hat on her head, "I wanted to go get our schedules early so we could prepare for class."

Freya groaned and grabbed her hat quickly before Lily dragged her out of the room. "Why did I become friends with such a maniac?" This earned her a smack from Lily.

The girls seemed to be the only people awake in Gryffindor Tower for it was eerily quiet as they made their way through the common room. Once they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, it swung open allowing them to exit. The girls made their way to Professor McGonagall's office chatting quietly on the way there in an effort not to wake some of the still sleeping paintings. Once they arrived, Lily knocked on her office door, waiting for a minute before it swung open to reveal their tight lipped, black-haired professor.

"Miss Evans, Miss MacGregor." She addressed them. "What brings you to my office at this hour in the morning?" Lily went on quickly to explain that they wanted to get their schedules early so that they could prepare for class. A small but notable smile quirked the side of her lip at the information. McGonagall always seemed to like the way Lily thought ahead. "Yes, of course." She waved her wand and two pieces of paper came flying off of her desk to land neatly in her hands. "Here you two go," she handed them the sheets and began to shoo them off. "I will see you again at breakfast." She said firmly before shutting the door. Lily and Freya found they had Arithmancy first with the Ravenclaws. Lily was both excited and nervous to know that she would be having class with Mason.

Freya was giving her a strange look. "What has you so jittery?" Lily felt her face flush red and she stammered.

"We have Arithmancy first."

Freya narrowed her eyes at her friend's strange behaviour. "Yeah…we've had that class with the Ravenclaws since third year."

"Yes," Lily spoke, "class with the Ravenclaws." Freya shook her head.

"I don't get it."

Lily smacked her. "Are you daft?" Freya rubbed her arm and mumbled to herself about child abuse. "Who do you know is in Ravenclaw?" Freya was thought quietly, and then she got it.

"Mason Davies is in Ravenclaw!" Lily rolled her eyes at her friend's idiocy. "And you fancy him." Freya teased, making googly eyes at her friend. Lily flushed redder and tried to hide her face behind her hair. Freya laughed. "My God, Lily, how taken can you be with him? You just got to know each other yesterday!"

"Yes well," she stammered, trying not to make herself seem like a love struck school girl. "He's very endearing." Freya snorted with laughter.

"Did you really just use the word endearing?" She laughed harder. "What is this? The twelve century?" Lily scowled at her friend.

"Oh, shut it, Freya. At least I have the audacity to use bigger words than Flobberworm." Freya sobered, holding an offended hand to her chest.

"I do too know big words!"

Lily raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Oh, please do tell."

Freya puffed out her chest and gave a grin. "Accoutrements."

"And what does accoutrement mean?" She asked her friend. Freya shrugged.

"Stuff." Lily laughed and continued to laugh as Freya proceeded to make an obscene gesture towards her, making one of the portraits on the wall gasp in outrage. Lily only laughed harder.

*†‡†*

After breakfast, Lily and Freya decided to go to the library before class to refresh their memory on their first subject, but unbeknownst to them, they had been followed. Severus Snape walked behind the two red heads as they made their way out of the Great Hall, hoping to get Lily alone so that he could apologize. When the girls reached their destination, they picked a table by a window and sat down to read their textbook. After a few minutes of having the feeling somebody was watching her, Freya looked up to lock eyes with Severus. She narrowed her eyes at him as he turned his gaze away. She nudged Lily's foot with her own, causing her to glare at Freya.

"What?" She snapped quietly. Freya nodded her head in the direction of Severus.

"Somebody is creeping." Lily turned her head and caught sight of her old best friend shortly before turning back around and continuing to read her Arithmancy textbook. Freya looked surprised. "Aren't you going to talk to him?" Lily shook her head without looking up.

"Severus and I have nothing to discuss, and frankly, I don't want to speak to him."

Freya looked over Lily's shoulder to see that Severus was staring at the back of her head. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Lily he's still glaring at you and I don't like the looks of him."

Lily growled and slammed her book down onto the table causing Madam Pince to look their way. "I already told you, I don't want to talk to him."

"Okay, well at least get him to stop glaring at us."

Lily rolled her eyes and went back to reading. "Stop being such a baby." Freya pouted. "I'm not being a babe, and Severus is beginning to weird me out with his not stop glaring."

Lily continued to read. "Just ignore him."

"That's a bit hard when it feels like his black eyes are piercing your soul." Lily frowned.

"Stop being so dramatic." The two continued their bickering, not noticing the glare they were receiving from Madam Pince until she walked over.

"Ladies. I will not tolerate such obnoxious behaviour in my library." She attempting to whisper but it came out more of a shrieking yell. Freya pretended to wipe spit from her face causing Madam Pince to grow angrier. "Get _out _of my library!" Lily and Freya scrambled to get their things, but not before Freya sent a stack of books flying the ground. "Miss MacGregor!" She shrieked. Freya held back a grin.

"Sorry, Madam, it was an accident. I swear it on Dumbledore's beard!" Madam Pince was fuming.

"Just _get out!_" The girls darted out of the library, the doors angrily slamming behind them.

Lily was glaring at Freya. "Way to get us kicked out of the library! And on the first day, too!" Freya rolled her eyes.

"You know how much she loathes me! She's had it out for me since first year!" Lily tried to stay serious but couldn't stop the smile that flittered onto her face when she remembered the first time Freya had gotten kicked out of the library. Freya smiled. "See! You remember how terrible she was to me!" Lily's grin grew.

"That may have been because you knocked over a whole row of bookshelves." Freya threw her hands up.

"It was James! The prat got the hell out of there the second it began to tip." She snorted. "So much for sticking it with your friends." Lily giggled but their conversation was interrupted by a male voice from behind.

"Wait." It called. The girls turned to see Severus Snape running to catch up to them. When he did he turned to Freya. "May I please talk to Lily alone for a minute." She narrowed her eyes. "I promise, I won't do anything to harm her. I never would." Freya growled protectively.

"It's already a little too late for that promise don't you think?" Severus paled. Lily gripped Freya's hand and squeezed it for support.

"It's fine, Freya, you go on ahead and I'll meet you in class." She looked unsure but Lily smiled and mouth "go".

She turned back to Severus one last time before leaving. "Stop giving people creepy glares."

Severus mentally rolled his eyes. Once Freya's head of red hair turned the corner and vanished from sight, Severus bounded into his planned apology.

"Lily, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean what I said." He pleaded. "You know how they are. It was their fault. I would have never called you that if it weren't for them." Lily calmly held up her hand to silence him. She was tired of his excuses and his hateful obsession with the Marauders.

"Let me speak, Sev." He stopped his babbling and felt hope flutter through his chest at the sound of his old nickname, but it was soon shot down by her words. "You were my best friend. I would have done anything for you and you took my friendship and stomped all over it." He went to object but she held up her hand. "No. I'm doing the talking now." She breathed in deeply and then let out the emotions that she had held inside of her for the entirety of the summer. "While what happened at the end of term last year did play a part in the falling out of our friendship, it was only a small part. The biggest thing that hurt me was how obsessed you had become with the Dark Arts and how the people who you chose to hang around with changed you." She felt her throat tighten but she refused to cry. "The boy who stands in front of me now, is not the same boy I became friends with as a little girl. And I want nothing to do with this new person." Severus' jaw unhinged and he stammered, for the first time in his life, speechless. "You have chosen your path, and I have chosen mine." Their eyes met. "Those paths don't lead to the same destination, Sev. They don't cross." She shook her head and broke their connection. "You can never be my friend anymore. Not truly and for that I am sorry. Not for the loss of you in my life but for the boy you used to be." Lily breathed out. "Goodbye, Sev." She turned on her heal and walked away. Severus watched her leave, but didn't go after her. He felt a strange ache in his chest and it grew with every step she put between them. Severus realised that he was feeling his heart break.

Once Lily was out of sight, she leaned against the closest wall for support; the burden of her past friendship with Severus lifted off of her shoulders, making them feel more free, but also much more empty.

She sighed and looked down at her watch. She still had time before class started but she had nothing to do. She was pulled from her thoughts when a voice down the hall yelled her name. At first she thought it was Severus, but then she looked up to see Mason Davies jogging over to her with a smile on his face.

"Hey there, Red." He said once he had reached her. Lily raised an eyebrow at the nickname.

"Red?" She asked cocking her head to the side slightly. Mason grinned sheepishly.

"Err, yeah, the first time I saw you I thought your hair kind of looked like the petals of a Christmas Poinsettia." Laughter bubbled from Lily's mouth. "If you don't like the name, I won't call you Red." She shook her head as her giggling slowed down.

"No, I really like it." She smiled at him and he returned it quickly with one of his own. "But you know, Freya and I pretty much have the same hair colour." She pointed out. Mason laughed.

"Right. I forgot about that." He scratched his neck nervously, but Lily put a hand on his arm and smiled reassuringly.

"I'm sure Freya won't mind." Mason ginned and held out his arms for her.

"Well, while I'm here I may as well be useful and take you to class," he paused. "That is if you have a class first block?" She nodded and looped her arm through his.

"We actually have the same class next." He looked surprised and Lily giggled. "Arithmancy." Understanding dawned on Mason's face before his smiled broadened.

"That's great. I'll be able to spend even more time with you than I thought." Lily laughed as he pulled her down the corridor towards the staircases. The walk to class was filled with dumb jokes told by Mason that Lily laughed at anyway as well as a lot of hair twirling. They reached the class right before the bell sounded, signalling the start of the school day. Lily sat down net to Freya who was making googly eyes at her and fluttering her eyelashes as she twirled her hair around one of her fingers.

"So I see you have had a good start to the day." She said motioning her head to Mason who sat at the front of the class with some of his Ravenclaw friends. Lily looked at his muscular back and sighed happily.

"Yeah..." She said trailing off at the end dreamily. Freya pretended to gag.

"Well how did your morning for from talking to Severus to flirting around with Mason Davies?" Freya asked curiously.

"Severus and I talked and I told him straight that we could not be friends anymore. Not with the company that he keeps." Freya nodded in understanding and continued to pretend she was taking notes, but she had just charmed her quill to write for her. "Then when I was walking to class, Mason found me and offered to escort me." Lily smiled. "He's really funny. And sweet, too." She glanced over at him and saw that Mason was staring at her. He smiled as Lily blushed and looked down at her parchment. Freya rolled her eyes.

"I think I'm going to puke at the sappy school girl you have become."

*†‡†*

Before dinner, there was a short perfects meeting in the empty Transfiguration classroom. Lily was the first to arrive and quickly made her way to Alice to discuss something that she had been thinking about all day.

"Alice," she called. The Head Girl turned and smiled when she caught sight of Lily. "I was wondering if you could put Mason and I on patrols together. So that we could, you know. Get to know each other a little better." Lily's face had turned a dark shade of red, but Alice just smiled knowingly at her friend.

"Yeah, of course! I had you with Remus but I can change that real fast." She winked at Lily whose face flushed again. She thanked her and took an empty seat, waiting for the rest of the perfects to show up. During the actual meeting, Frank and Alice discussed patrol schedules first before Frank moved on to say that all Quidditch Captains would have to meet in the first week of school with him to discuss try outs as well as practise schedules. When they moved onto Hogsmeade weekends, the room took on a much lighter feeling that was mixed with excitement. The two Heads stated that the first Hogsmeade weekend would most likely happen sometime in early November. Mason looked over at Lily once the information had been presented. He noticed that she had already been looking at him and instantly a small blush crept up her cheeks.

When the meeting concluded, Lily and Remus walked together down to the Great Hall to join their friends at the Gryffindor table. Lily sat down next to Freya who was giving her an expectant look.

"So did Alice put you guys together," she whispered into Lily's ear, earning a curious glance from Sirius. Lily nodded.

"Mason looked at me when they moved onto talk about Hogsmeade weekends. Do you think he'll ask me to go with him?" She looked anxious but a twinkle of excitement could be seen in her eyes.

"I think he'd be a pretty big fool if he didn't ask you, Lily." It wasn't Freya but Remus who said this. Lily looked surprised. "I know you asked Alice to switch the patrol schedules." Lily's face blushed furiously.

"Are you mad at me?" She didn't mean to upset Remus' feelings and she hadn't meant for him to find out she had changed the schedules. Remus smiled and shook his head.

"Nah, it's all good. Mason seems to be a lucky guy." There was a loud thump next to Remus. Everybody turned to see a pissed off, fuming James Potter who had just banged his knee against the bottom of the table.

Sirius laughed uneasily and tried to massage James' shoulders. "Prongs here is just a little tense after the first day of classes. No need to worry." James just grunted and went back to looking at his plate. Freya began to flick peas at him. He scowled after one hit him in the eye.

"What the hell, Freya?"

"Stop being such a sourpuss and remember what I told you on the train." Peter looked confused.

"What did you tell him on the train?" Freya glared at him and shrugged.

"James can tell you if he wants." All the boys looked at James who just shook his head.

"I'll tell you later." He glanced up at Lily who had not been listening to the conversation but was instead making lovey faces at Mason who was sitting at the Ravenclaw table. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He stood up from the table and made to leave. "I've lost my appetite." His friends watched helplessly as James walked out of the Great Hall. Lily had not even glanced away from Mason.

James made his way up to the Gryffindor common room where he collapsed onto one of the large, plush chairs. He sat in front of the fire, staring into it motionlessly for some time before he heard the chatter of his housemates begin to fill the room. When it grew too noisy for his liking, James climbed the stairs up to the sixth year boy's dorm and threw off his glasses as he collapsed onto his bed. He stared up at the canopy of his bed for a while, thinking about what Freya had told him. Maybe she was right. Maybe he should just give up on Lily, but as he continued to think about it, giving up on her didn't feel right to him. He sighed as the door flew open to reveal his three friends.

"Oi, Prongs," called Sirius. "Get your sad arse up and come talk to the love doctors!" But James didn't budge; something he would soon come to regret for Sirius was jumping on his bed like a dog a minute later. "Why the long face, Prongsie? Don't tell me Evans has shoved a stick up your arse." James scowled and kicked his friend off the side of the bed.

"Shut up, Padfoot. And no, for the record, I haven't any stick up my arse." He put on his glasses to get a better look at his friends.

"Then why've you been in such a shit mood since yesterday," asked Remus who actually looked mildly concerned. James sighed before answering.

"Because Evans fancies Mason Bloody Davies and because Freya gave me some crap advice that's been nagging at me relentlessly." Peter's round, chubby head popped up from beside the bed.

"What advice did she give to you?"

"She told me to try and date other girls this year and promised that if I still liked Evans by the end of school that she would help get her to like me." Confusion dawned on the faces of his friends. Remus spoke up first.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea, Prongs." Sirius nodded in agreement.

"What's the worst that could happen? You meet a cute bird, snog her and then get tired and move onto the next for a year before getting together with Evans! Doesn't sound too bad to me." Remus frowned and smacked the back of his head.

"I'm sure that Freya just wants him to look at his options besides Lily and not go snogging every girl on campus." Sirius rubbed the back of his head. James ran a frustrated hand through his messy hair.

"Yeah but none of these girls compare to Lily, and I know that sounds bad, but I just can't help but compare them all to her." James sighed and slumped back. "I don't know what to do." Remus sat down and patted James' shoulder.

"Just get some sleep, Prongs. I'll bet that soon one of these birds will catch your eye and you won't even remember why Lily Evans was giving you such a hard time. If they don't, then I'm certain Freya will stick to her promise and get you your girl."

James smiled weakly at his friend. "Thanks, Moony." Sirius scoffed. "Thanks, Padfoot." He turned to Peter who was smiling. "You're much better at other things, Wormtail." Peter grinned up at his friend.

"Don't I know it." The boys laughed and spent the rest of their evening in the kitchens, eating deserts as Sirius listed off all the single, good-looking girls at Hogwarts that James should go after, but his mind kept returning to his favourite, short-tempered red-head.


	5. Chapter 5

James let out a heavy sigh as he posted the notice for the Gryffindor Quidditch try-outs that were going to be held three days' time on Saturday morning. Sirius patted his back reassuringly.

"It'll go well, Prongs. I'm sure we won't get too many inexperienced second years or hopeful Hufflepuffs this year." James laughed bitterly.

"Yeah, one can only dream…McGonagall has already given me the list and some of these names seem out of place." They walked out of the common room to meet up with Peter and Remus in the corridor.

"Did you put up the sheet," Remus asked as they walked towards the staircases leading to the Great Hall for breakfast. James nodded.

"Hopefully, if all the people who were on the team last year try-out we can win the Quidditch and House cup again."

Sirius nudged his friend with his elbow. "With you as Captain Prongs, we could never lose," he belted joyfully, startling some of the portraits who scowled at the boys when they passed, shaking their fists. Sirius eyed them. "You know, somebody 'ought to do something about these paintings." A sly grin spread across his face. "I've an idea." James raised an eyebrow and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Go on, Padfoot," James began. "Enlighten us."

The boys hopped off the last stair and went to round the corner. "Well, I was thinking —," Sirius was cut off by a grunt and a squeak as James ploughed over a girl. She fell back onto her bum, her books and parchment flying everywhere. She looked up at the four older boys startled. Remus gathered her things as James helped her up.

"I'm sorry." He grabbed her tense hand and pulled the girl to her feet. "I didn't see you there." He met her eyes to see embarrassment shining in them.

"I'm so sorry. I-I didn't mean to bump into you." She gathered herself quickly, dusting off her robes. "Merlin, this is humiliating." She hid her red face behind her veil of light brown hair and thanked Remus quickly as she grabbed her stuff and made to leave, but was stopped when James wrapped his fingers around her wrist. She looked back at him startled, her eyes darting between their hands and his face.

"Hey, it's not your fault, and if you think that's humiliating you should have seen Padfoot when we threw his underwear all over the Whomping Willow." There was a loud protest from Sirius at James telling the girl this. She let a small smile slip and James grinned. "Ahh, there's a smile. You're Estella Kingsman, right? Aurora's older sister?" She nodded. Aurora Kingsman was a fourth year that had played Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team in her third. She was a fast flyer and James hoped she'd be playing again this year. "You must be a fifth year than, yeah?" Again she nodded. "Well, we better not keep you from classes. Fifth year is a pretty busy one." James let go of her wrist and back peddled towards the Great Hall. "We'll see you 'round." He called to her. Estella waved and hurried to class, flushing redder than she ever had. Sirius was grinning at James. "What's with the creepy smile, Padfoot," he asked as he sat across from Freya who was busy talking to Lily. Both girls were too engrossed in their hushed conversation and didn't glance at the Marauders.

"That cute girl we bumped into, Estella. She fancies you." James snorted and piled food onto his plate.

"What makes you think so," he questioned, his mouth filled with eggs.

"Are you joking?" Said Remus, smiling at his friend. "She turned redder than a Christmas ornament."

"That's because she was embarrassed." Remus rolled his eyes at his friend's idiocy.

"If you honestly think she turned that red from embarrassment then you're the dumbest bloke on campus. She fancies you, mate. And I for one think that you should get to know her." Sirius and Peter nodded in agreement. Freya and Lily had stopped talking and were listening to them.

"What are you lot on about?" Freya asked, eyeing them curiously. Sirius spoke up.

"Estella Kingsman." She looked confused.

"The Gryffindor fifth year?" Sirius nodded. "What about her?"

"We think she fancies Prongs and we're trying to get him to get over himself and get to know her." Said Remus as he buttered his toast. She smiled.

"I think it's a grand idea. She's a nice lass, Jem and you should remember what I told you on the train." His eyes quickly darted to Lily who was eyeing him with a mixed expression of curiosity and disapproval.

"Why would someone as sweet and nice as Estella Kingsman fancy you," she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. James shrugged.

"Maybe my dashing good looks and charming personality?" James offered smirking at her. Lily snorted in laughter.

"Right… well, Freya and I are off to Hagrid's before class." The girls stood up and gathered their things. "See you lot later." Freya waved back to them as Lily dragged her out of the Great Hall. Sirius watched in amusement.

"I wish Freya would let me manhandle her." James frowned and smacked the back of his friends head.

"I told you that the one girl that was always off limits to you was Fey. She doesn't need Hogwart's biggest playboy trying to shag her." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Is it so hard for you to believe that I want a real relationship?" All three of his friend replied with the same answer unanimously.

"Yes." Sirius was the next to frown.

When the boys had finished eating, Peter headed to Muggle Studies as Remus, Sirius, and James walked towards the library; although it looked more like Remus was dragging Sirius and James, both of whom wanted to vandalise the school paintings. On their way into the library, James noticed a head of golden brown hair searching for a book amidst the shelves. He smiled and waved at Estella who after a minute looked up to meet his eyes. She quickly smiled, her face flushing a soft pink. Sirius nudged him in the stomach, urging him to go talk to her. James made a face at his friend but walked over anyway.

"Hey, Estella, fancy seeing you here." He said leaning against the book shelf next to her. "Shouldn't you be in class?" She raised an eyebrow and looked down at her watch.

"It's only, eight o'clock and class starts at nine." James let out a nervous laugh and ran a hand through his hair.

"Right, I was just testing to make sure you knew, good job." He flashed her a smile and watched as she ducked her head and blushed again. James observed her as she searched through the shelves. "What are you looking for," he questioned just as she reached down and snatched a large, leather-bound book off the shelf and held it up.

"Nothing anymore, but thank you for asking." She carefully balanced the book on top of her already high stack in her arms.

"Here," he offered. "Let me help you carry them." He reached out for the books, but Estella moved them away and blushed; not meeting his gaze.

"It's quite alright, I-I can handle it myself, but thank you again for offering." She stepped to the side to walk around him. "It was, uh, really nice talking to you, um…" she trailed off at the end unsure of what to say to him.

"You can call me James you know." He offered her, giving a smile. Her face flushed redder and she nodded.

"It was really nice talking to you…James." His grin widened at the use of his name.

"I'll see you later, Estella." She smiled and finally looked up to meet his eyes. He noted that hers were very much like a doe's; large and a soft brown colour.

"Bye." She whispered before walking away to check out. He watched her walk out of the library before making his way to the table Sirius and Remus had positioned themselves to watch the exchange that had taken place. They were grinning and pretending to do work. James sat down once he reached them and took out his Transfiguration essay. Sirius was staring at him expectantly.

"Well," he said, "aren't you going to tell us what happened?" James rolled his eyes.

"Are you telling me that you weren't listening the whole time?" A wolfish grin crossed Sirius' face.

"Okay, you've got us there, but it was Moony's idea." Remus shook his head at his friend but set his book down on the table.

"From what I saw, Prongs, she seems to really like you, but she also seems unbelievably shy" he said sincerely. "And she's cute." James sighed and ran a hand through his tangled hair.

"I know that, Moony but the thing is, no matter how much I've tried to stop looking at Evans these past two weeks, my eyes seem to always wander back to her." He brought his head down and began to bang it lightly against the table. "It would be very nice to get to know Estella but I wouldn't want to take her out on a date when I still have feelings for Lily."

"Maybe your eyes keep looking back at Evans 'cause you think you have nothing better to look at." He reached out and rested his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Tonight, I want you to sit with her in the common room; you should talk to her more, learn a bit about her and then take her on a date. Besides, Evans is going to be too busy ogling Mason Davies to notice you this year." Sirius leaned back in his chair. "Play your field, Prongs. You gots to show Evans that she isn't the only bird that can catch your eye."

"I hate to tell you this, but Sirius is right." At this information Sirius beamed and whipped a pretend tear away from his cheek.

"I think that's the first time you're ever said that." Remus rolled his eyes but cracked a small smile.

*†‡†*

During second block, Remus left James and Sirius to go to Ancient Runes class. The two Marauders were done with their work and so they decided it was a good time to wreak havoc on the portraits of Hogwarts. They had made their way down from the seventh floor and were currently vandalising the third floor, drawing obscene images all over the pictures, making many of them cry in outrage. Sirius was grinning devilishly as he drew a very detailed set of breasts on a sleeping man. When he was done he took and step back and admired his work.

"Oy, Prongs!" He said as he barked out a laugh. "Look at this masterpiece!" James jogged over from where he was drawing at the other end of the corridor. He took one look at Sirius' new instalment to the painting and laughed quickly before adding a nice rouge to the man's lips.

"There," he said smiling, "now it looks much better." The boys looked at each other with matching grins. They travelled down to the second where just as they began to draw, they heard a familiar voice.

"Do you see them, Mrs Norris?" It was Filch. "I know they're on this here floor." James and Sirius scrambled down the hall, running away from the sound of Filch's voice. They dashed into an unused classroom, sealing the door shut behind them. James took out a folded up piece of parchment from his pocket and pointed the tip of his wand to it.

"_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_," he whispered. Black ink began to seep into the parchment bringing to life the Marauder's Map, a magical object the four boys had created the summer before their fifth year. He scanned the map, looking for the dot labelled Filch. He found it wondering outside the classroom. James and Sirius watched as he made his way down the corridor and moved up to the third floor, heading towards Dumbledore's office. James blew out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. "That was close."

Sirius was grinning. "Close, but a hell of a lot of fun." He looked down at his watch. "C'mon, let's head down for lunch." They poked their heads out into the hall, checking one last time, before waltzing out and down to the first floor. On the way down, the bell rang to signal the end of class. The two boys faced each other and grinned, knowing that everybody would see their latest work. When they arrived at the Great Hall, they sat down at the Gryffindor table and grabbed some food as they watched the door, waiting for students to stream in and talk about the paintings and after a moment they did. A group of Hufflepuff girls strolled in laughing and whispering as they glanced over at James and Sirius. The girls giggled even more when the boys flashed them matching grins. The next person they saw was Peter who looked so excited he could have wet himself. He scampered up to James and Sirius.

"Did you guys do that to all the paintings?" He asked with admiration shining in his large watery eyes. Sirius grinned.

"Well, not all of them. Only the ones we thought deserved it." Peter looked giddy, but the smiled slipped off his face when he saw Freya and Lily approach. Lily wore a disappointed scowl on her face while Freya just had an observant look on hers. She sat across from James and reached over to mess up his hair as she sat. He frowned and ran his hand through his hair, as if to groom it.

"Well done boys," Sirius began to smile but it slipped off his face at her next words. "At first, I thought it was the work of a first year, seeing how easy and unbelievably idiotic it was, but then I noticed exactly what was drawn and I knew it must have been you two dunces." Sirius drew back, as if highly offended.

"I doubt a first year could have been able to draw in such detail," he cried. "My art work is fantastic!" Freya rolled her eyes and grabbed an apple as Lily shook her head.

"It is inappropriate and vulgar! I'm sure that you have both mentally scarred the minds of many innocent first years." She narrowed her bright, angry eyes at the boys. "You should be ashamed of yourselves." James just gave her a cheeky grin as he leaned across the table to be closer to her.

"That's kind of strange to hear from the girl who had her face on my crotch at the beginning of summer." Her face flushed furiously and she went to smack James' smirk off of his face but he darted back out of reach, laughing all the while.

"Th-that was an accident." She glanced around to make sure no one else at the table had heard before going on. "And it is also something that will never, _ever_ happen again."

James' continued to grin at her, not able to help himself, he carried on taunting her. "I don't know, Evans. But I reckon you enjoyed it." Lily reeled back looking affronted.

"I most certainly did not," she cried in outrage. Her raised voice started to grab the attention of some of the students, for they turned their heads eagerly to watch the unfolding row. Their eyes met and caught and James remembered just how much he loved the sight of her angry. Her face was flushed and her green eyes seemed to glow. She wore the blazing look the he had come to love so much. He felt his heart pound harder in his chest.

James leaned a bit closer and said, "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt." The table roared with laughter at his remark; even Freya could be seen fighting back a smile. Lily, on the other hand, was furious.

"I AM NOT IN DENIAL," she grabbed the already bitten apple in Freya's hand and threw it as hard as she could at James' face, unlike first year, she didn't miss. The apple hit him square on the bridge of his nose, snapping his glasses into two. Surprised and disoriented, he lost his balance and fell off the bench, landing flat on his bum, his legs still hanging onto his seat. Most of the people had turned to fuzzy blurs to James, but the raucous laughter was easily heard. Remus, who had arrived just before James had taken the apple to his face, pulled out his wand and fixed his friend's glasses. Now with the ability to see, James looked directly at Lily who wore a triumphant smirk on her perfect face. He glanced down at the half eaten apple in his lap and laughed, bringing it up to his mouth and taking a bite. Freya let out a shout of protest. ("I was eating that!")

"You know, Evans," he started as he chewed on the apple. "You would make a well good Chaser." Sirius barked out laughter, and the corner of Lily's lip twitched. No one but James seemed to notice this, no one but James really mattered.

*†‡†*

During last block, which was taken up by Charms, the sixth years were supposed to be practicing non-verbal spells, but Sirius' mind had wandered elsewhere. Since the start of term, he hadn't been able to get Freya alone, and even when he did spot her, she would do her best to avoid him. He stared at her from across the room where she sat with Lily. She had not noticed him looking yet, or if she had she didn't let on. He was pulled out of thought when Professor Flitwick hobbled over to him.

"Practicing hard I assume, Mr Black?" Sirius started slightly, but after a moment he smiled down at his short professor.

"'Course I am," he pointed his wand towards a sleeping Jonathan Davies and said a strong, quick, _Aguamenti! _inside his head. A jet of water sprayed out of the tip of his wand and began to soak Jonathan's robes. He jumped at the cold feeling and looked around dazed.

"The answer's Gillyweed, Professor Sprout." The class burst into laughter as Flitwick gave Jonathan a pointed look.

"Five points from Gryffindor for sleeping in my class, Mr Davies." Just as he finished speaking the bell to signal the end of classes chimed. "Practice! I want everybody to practice before our next lesson at least once!" The Gryffindor students filed out the door as quick as possible, many of them wanting to finally relax in their own common room. When Sirius and the rest of his friends made it out of the classroom, he spotted Freya and Lily walking towards the library, he ran after them, hoping to get alone time with Freya. Once he had caught up to them, he gently grabbed onto her arm, stopping her from moving any farther away. She jerked back, surprised, but relaxed slightly when she saw it was Sirius who had grabbed her.

"Mother of Merlin, Sirius! Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Right, well, I was just wondering if you would like to come with me for a short stroll around the castle." She raised an eyebrow at him curiously but before she could reply, Lily interrupted.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Black, but Freya and I already made plans to finish our homework in the library." She glanced over at her friend with a stern, McGonagall like face. Freya shrugged as if to agree with her friend, but Sirius was persistent. He latched back on to Freya's arm and tried to drag her away, but Lily pulled her back. "Let go of her, Black!" Lily tugged Freya towards her. "She's my friend!"

Sirius didn't budge and pulled Freya back towards him. "I grabbed onto her first," he snarled.

Freya let out a cry of exasperation. "You're both acting like children! Stop tugging — OW!" The two had pulled on her at the same time, stretching her body to its limit. "Would you two let go!" With a little reluctance, Lily slowly released her grip on Freya's arm, glaring at Sirius as she did so. He soon followed suit. She straightened out her robes and rubbed her arms. "Since you're both mental, I'll make the plan." She turned to Lily. "I'll meet you in the library in a few minutes." Lily stood there with her arms crossed for a minute before relenting.

"Fine, but I had better not find you two snogging in a deserted corridor." She turned and continued on to the library.

Freya scowled at her at her as she walked away. "Just so you know," she called after her, "I've never snogged Sirius!" She huffed for a second before she turned back to find him wearing a triumphant smile. "Let's just go before you cause more trouble." She pulled him along towards the stairs, Sirius grinned at her the whole way. A bit later, she let go of him and the two fell into step side-by-side.

He began to make pointless conversation. "Great weather we're having, isn't it?" Freya made a face.

"It's pouring out, Black." She motioned to the window which was littered with raindrops. "Now," she began, clasping her hands together in front of herself. "Why did you want to talk to me?" She looked over at him, tilting her head back to look at his face because of her lack of height. Sirius wore a devilish grin.

"Who said I wanted to talk?" Her eyes widened, and she went to move away from him, but he snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against him as he walked her back towards the wall; trapping her there. Her eyes narrowed down to angry slits, but he held her silver gaze. "You've been ignoring me." She rolled her eyes, but Sirius felt her body relax in his arms.

"I hate to break it to you, but I've been busy with work. Not everybody waits until the last possible minute to do it like you and Jem." This time it was Sirius who narrowed his eyes.

"You know that's not what I meant."

Freya stared back defiantly, she pulled her arms from her sides and crossed them against her chest, making room between her body and Sirius. "Do I?"

He growled and ducked his head down a bit to be closer to her face. She moved her head back but it just collided with the wall, keeping her much too close to Sirius for her liking. "You seemed so fine with cuddling and flirting over the summer, but the minute we get back to school you distance yourself from me like I'm the plague." She looked up at him, scandalised.

"That's not what happened!"

"Then what did happen?" His voice had gotten louder, inducing Freya to fight back. She smacked his chest and attempted to push him away, but he held steadfastly onto her waist.

"Blimey, Sirius! Nothing, okay? Did you ever stop to think for a second that maybe I was just busy?" He threw his head back and let out a laugh, but it was devoid of any humour.

"Every time you see me in the corridors you turn the other direction, and you want me to believe that you do it because you're busy?" He scoffed. "As if."

Freya was beginning to grow weary of their row. "Do you say things like this to all the girls you shag in broom cupboards? Or are you trying extra hard to annoy me?" Sirius' face slackened for half a second, but she still noticed.

"I've never shagged a girl in a broom cupboard." He paused, smirking. "I'm decent enough to shag them in a bed." Anger and humiliation pulsed through her blood as she raised her hand to smack the smile off of his face, but Sirius was too quick and his fingers circled around her wrist, stopping her hand's decent to his face. "Are you going to slap me, Freya," he asked, mocking her. Her chest rose and fell as she drew in large gulps of air, trying to get her anger in check. She turned her head towards the window and watched the rain fall onto it; refusing to look at Sirius. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought she was crying. He sighed and pulled her closer to him, but her body was stiff and unyielding. He was beyond frustrated with the female population. "I hadn't meant for this to end up in such a mess. I just wanted to understand why…" his voice died off at the end.

Her face was stuffed into his chest, making her voice muffled. "Why what?" She moved back in his arms and allowed herself to look up at his face. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, not speaking and barely breathing.

"Why are you so scared of being with me?" His voice was soft and comforting and Freya wanted nothing more than to just fall into him and never leave but her more sensible, Lily influenced side told her no. She sighed and shook her head, breaking their contact.

"I just…" she searched for the right words and remembered the dream she had had during the summer, remembered the crazed look in his eye and the way his voice sounded as he cursed her. She shivered at the memory. He stared down at her for a few silent seconds. "Just, drop it, Sirius."

She weaselled her way out of his arms and tried to leave but he grabbed her hand to keep her. "I don't want to drop it." Freya was becoming tired of his antics.

"I don't want to be one of the slags you shag whenever you feel up to it but then forget about after!" Her face burned and her chest rose and fell rapidly with her heavy breathing. Sirius was eyeing her with surprise; his face displaying genuine shock.

"Freya," he began quietly, but she held up her hand to silence him.

"Don't waste your breath." She yanked her hand out of his grasp and hurriedly made her way to the library. Sirius stood back in the hallway and watched her leave but he didn't move to follow her. She didn't understand why she was filled with so much disappointment by this.

When she entered the library, she spotted Lily sitting next to Mason; not wanting to interrupt the two, she made her way over to where James, Peter, and Remus were seated and plopped down on the chair next to Remus. He and James watched her curiously as she slammed her books down and rummaged through her bag for a roll of parchment and a quill. Once she had everything out, she noticed they were all staring at her, Peter had a look of fear in his eyes. "What?" She snapped angrily at them, making Peter jump. James and Remus mumbled incoherent words and went back to work. Freya attempted to do her Potions essay, but her mind was not in it. She was pretty sure she read the same paragraph three times before slumping back in her chair. Remus looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Taking a break already?"

She crossed her arms and gave him a defiant look. "I don't need your cheek, Remus." He smiled at her innocently.

"No cheek, just genuine concern." She scoffed. ("Genuine concern my ass.") She looked over at James who was burning a hole in the back of Mason's head with his stare. She was about to say something when a body slid into the chair across from her. Sirius had arrived and he made a point of staring at Freya. She tried her best to ignore him, but she would bet fifty galleons that he knew she wasn't actually reading her textbook. "Where have you been," Remus asked, looking across the table.

He tore his gaze away from her and grinned at his friend. "I just had a nice walk with Freya around the castle." Remus raised his eyebrows and glanced over to his left where Freya sat, trying to hide her flushed face.

"Really?" Sirius nodded. "What did you do on this walk?" The grin slid off of his face.

"We talked about the weather," he said plainly.

Remus gave him a look. "The weather?" Sirius nodded again and Remus shook his head, moving back to his work. "If you say so." Freya let out a long breath and chanced a glance at Sirius. He was staring at her, unashamed and did not look away when their eyes met.

*†‡†*

Meanwhile, Lily and Mason had finished their Arithmancy work and were talking about the nonverbal spells they were learning in DADA. Mason had admitted to having slight problems with the nonverbal spells and so Lily was helping him a bit with it.

"I don't know if it works for everybody, but I just say the word really strongly, and clearly inside of my head." Mason nodded, and took out his wand, but Lily put her hand on top of his quickly, halting his movements. "Don't try to think about the spell too hard like some people." She blushed and pulled her hand back. "It makes them look constipated." He chuckled.

"I'll try my best not to." Lily smiled at him, encouragingly. He pointed his wand towards one of the quills resting on the table. She watched as the quill slowly began to shrink. Once it had stopped, Mason let out a breathy laugh. "Wow, I really did it." He smiled at Lily who beamed back at him. She put a hand on his arm.

"You just needed a tiny bit of encouragement." They locked eyes and she felt her stomach flutter.

"I also had a bit of help from a brilliant, Gryffindor beauty." He winked at her and she felt her cheeks heat up a little. "But seriously, Lily, I had a really great time working with you. You're a bloody brilliant witch." She felt her face heat up more at his compliment.

"Thank you, Mason. It was nice being able to work with you today. I hope we can do it again in the future." They were both too busy looking at each other to notice James' gaze burning holes into the back of Mason's head. James rarely ever got jealous, but when he did, Lily was always at the root of it. Fuming with anger, he turned back to his friends.

"You know," they looked up at him, "I think I will ask Estella out on a date." Sirius slapped him on the back.

"I'm glad to hear it, Prongsie!" The outburst from Sirius earned them a hard glare from Madam Pince.

Freya eyed him, suspiciously. "This better not be to get a rouse out of Lily. Estella doesn't deserve that."

James looked offended. "It's not. And even if it was..." he glanced over at Lily and Mason and shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "It wouldn't work." Freya's look turned from one of suspicion to that of pity.

"Well, if that's the case I think you and she will make a nice pairing."

James murmured a thanks and looked down at his finished Potions essay. It wasn't exactly O value but he couldn't bring himself to care. He packed up his stuff and glanced out the window, the rain had slowed to a soft drizzle. He turned to Sirius. "Fancy a fly around the pitch?" His friend jumped at the chance.

"Sounds good, mate, I'm getting tired of this stink hole anyway." He stood up and waved his wand, packing all of his things back into his school bag. He saluted Remus and Peter as they walked away. "See you lot later!" he called over his shoulder. He looked back at Freya to say goodbye but she was staring out the window.

As he and James made their way up to Gryffindor tower to grab their brooms, James bumped into Aurora Kingsman. He had knocked her over and she was now glaring up at them from beneath her tangle of long blonde hair. She looked as if she were about to tell them off, but then her brown eyes widened as she realised who she had bumped into.

"Hello there, Captain." She quickly got to her feet and smiled at them. "Sirius," she tipped her head to him in acknowledgement. "What has you two in such a hurry?"

James spoke up. "We were actually about to go down to the pitch," he paused. "You are going to try out for the team this year, right Kingsman?" She nodded her head once.

"I'm supposed to go meet my sister in the common room, so I'll catch you lot later." She went to move past them but Sirius grabbed onto her. She raised one of her eyebrows at him. "Can I help you, Sirius?"

He let go of her and stood up straighter, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Actually, I think you can." She crossed her arms and jutted out her hip expectantly.

"Well spit it out."

He asked the question quickly. "Is your sister seeing anybody?" Apparently she hadn't expected him to ask that specific question for she rocked back on her heals and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What's it to you?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, no, no. Not for me, but for Prongs here." He gestured over to James who was standing next to him, running his hand through his messy hair. Aurora eyed them for a second before bursting out in laughter.

After a few seconds, she calmed down and was able to talk. "That's very funny, but what did you really mean to ask me?" James frowned.

"Is it that unbelievable? For me to fancy your sister?" Aurora gave him a look.

"You chased after Lily Evans for your whole fifth year and then all of a sudden you fancy my sister?" She shook her head. "Besides, Estella has had the most terrible fancy for you since her third year. I think it would give her a heart attack to know that you fancy her as well." Sirius beamed at this new information. He wrapped his arm around James' shoulders and shook him.

"Hear that? She fancies you! You've got to ask her out now." James scowled at Sirius and unwrapped his arm from around him.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it Padfoot, I'll do it this evening." Aurora's eyes narrowed.

"What? Are you being forced to ask out my sister or something?"

James moved quickly to fix his mistake. "No! No, of course I'm not; my friends have just been err, encouraging me to talk to your sister more because she's pretty." He gave her an uneasy smile. She glared at him for a few more moments before relenting and relaxing. She gave a sweet smile.

"All right, Captain, but if you hurt her," her smile fell and she pulled herself up to her full height, which was pretty tall considering her age. "I'll break you."

James gave a forced laugh. "Right, well thanks for your help." He and Sirius backed away from her and walked down the hall. She straightened and smiled, waving at them as they went.

Sirius let out a long breath once they had turned the corner. "Merlin, for a cute fourteen year old girl, I forget how scary she can be at times. Thank God she's in Gryffindor." James grinned in agreement.

"Tell me about."

*†‡†*

Wet with rain and sweat, Sirius and James earned a lot of admiring stares from the girls in the Gryffindor common room as they made their way over to the fire where Lily and Peter sat watching Remus get his ass handed to him by Freya. The two were engaged in a game of Wizard's Chess. Mary Macdonald and Alice Prewett sat close by, going through what seemed to be notes for one of their classes. Estella Kingsman could be seen on the opposite side of the room, watching James out of the corner of her eye and blushing whenever one of her friends pointed it out. James and Sirius brought their brooms off of their shoulders and set them down by the fire with care, even though it was a known fact that James Potter had the biggest broom collection at Hogwarts, he still treated each and every one of them with the upmost care. Hearing his name, he glanced up at the girls in the corner, most of them were staring at him but the only one that caught his eye was Estella. He smiled at her, making her friends erupt into whispers and nudges. He turned to Sirius who was staring down the front of Freya's robes, a feat that earned him a whack in the back of the head from James.

"Oy," he cried, rubbing the back of his head. "What in Merlin's name was that for?"

He rolled his eyes. "You know bloody well what that was for." Sirius gave a crooked smile.

"All right may be I did, but there was no need for violence." His eyes followed James gaze, landing on Estella. "Are you going to talk to her or continue staring like a madman?" James turned back to look at his friend.

"I'm just trying to figure out if this is a good thing or not." Sirius wrapped an arm around him.

"Going out with a pretty girl could never be a bad thing, mate." He glanced at Freya quickly. "Now go woo her, Prongs." He pushed James up onto his feet and steered him towards Estella.

James got a lot of curious stares as he made his way across the common room to where Estella sat with her friends. He stood in front of them, smiling at her and putting on his confident self. "Hey Estella, I just wanted to ask, what are you doing on Saturday?"

Her face was flushed and her eyes were sparkling, she kept eye contact with him. "I don't know…" James put on false surprise.

"Really? Cause I do." Sirius' barking laughter could be heard on the other side of the room. "I would like to spend Saturday with you. Come watch the Quidditch try out, and then for the rest of the day I'm yours." He ran a hand through his hair, knowing it would seal the deal. Flustered and blushing, she nodded her head.

"It sounds like a good enough deal." She smiled at him. James leaned down and brought her hand to his lips, making her flush more.

He looked up at her from his bent position. "Great, it's a date." He straightened and backed away towards his friends. "I look forward to seeing you at my try out."

"How will I know which player you are," she asked coquettishly.

James grinned. "Just looked for the best one." He winked at her before turning around and walking the rest of the way to his friends with a triumphant bounce in his step. He could hear the girls behind him giggling and whispering about what had just happened.

A slap on the back from Sirius awaited him once he sat down with his friends. "Well done, mate!" Peter smiled at him crookedly and gave two thumbs up. Remus was smiling.

"That didn't look too hard," he commented.

James laughed. "Yeah, it was pretty easy to get back into the swing of things." He grinned. "I'm actually finding myself looking forward to this date." Freya was smirking at him.

"It seems like you're not the only one looking forward to it. Estella looked like she was going to faint when you walked over." Everyone laughed in the group except for Lily who was frowning.

"Why do you all of a sudden have a fancy for Estella Kingsman?"

James put his hands behind his head and slid down in his seat to get more comfortable. "Why so nosy, Evans? Don't tell me you're jealous." Lily shrunk back.

"Of course I'm not." She said defensively. "I can't understand why all of a sudden you've taken interest with her is all." James gave her a hard stare.

"Well, if you're so keen on knowing why, I'll tell you." She looked at him expectantly. "I've sorted out my priorities." Lily's face paled in the firelight and her jaw dropped slightly. It opened and closed for a moment as she searched for words.

"Err, if that's what you've decided then…I guess." She stood up and pulled Freya with her. "We'll see you guys tomorrow…" she trailed off at the end as she walked towards the stairs leading to the girls' dormitory. Freya smiled and waved as she left, her eyes caught Sirius' and her smile dropped. She turned around and jogged after Lily, red hair flowing out behind her.

*†‡†*

Once safely inside the sixth year girl's dormitory, Lily fell down onto her bed feeling confused and worried for her sanity. She felt her mattress sink lower as Freya sat down at the foot.

"What's gotten into you?" She asked crossing her legs to sit more comfortably. Lily blew out a long breath of air.

"I don't know."

Freya eyed her calculatingly. "Do you fancy James?"

Lily choked on air. "No!" She sat up quickly and faced her friend. "I just… I don't know, I guess I didn't expect him to ask somebody else out on a date after last year."

Freya raised an eyebrow. "So, you thought James wouldn't fancy anybody besides you?"

Lily shook her head. "It's not that…I suppose I just thought he wouldn't give up that easily, yeah?"

Freya shrugged. "Sometimes he can be unpredictable. But being honest, I didn't think he was about to accept my offer either." Lily's head snapped towards her.

"What offer?"

Freya gave her a Cheshire smile. "That's for me to know, silly." Lily gave her an exasperated look.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone. I'm really sorry for such the long wait but I wasn't able to find it in myself to write. I know some people may find this inappropriate to say to strangers but I just need to write it or I'll go crazy. Over Christmas break someone close to me passed away and I went into a state of shock. I don't think it ever occurred to me that the people I love are mortal. I've thought that they were going to just always be there but loosing someone makes you realise that they won't be, and I had a really hard time coping with that. I almost gave up writing this but I knew that he wouldn't have wanted me to so this chapter is dedicated to my friend who always carried on. Everyone back home misses you. xxx**

Friday morning brought one of Lily's favourite classes, Potions. Her previous five years at Hogwarts had been full of love for the subject for various reasons; one of them being it was one of the only classes she shared with Severus. When she arrived to class with the rest of the Gryffindors, she noted that the majority of Slytherin class had already arrived and that Severus was seated at the table they would have normally shared. Feeling disgusted he still had hope after two weeks of classes that she would sit next to him, she made a point of taking a seat next to Sylvia and Paige, who sat at the table directly behind the Marauders, giving them a good view of the boys. Sylvia was eyeing James and Sirius like eye candy while Paige and Freya talked about their mutual dislike for Slughorn. Severus was soon joined by Mulciber and Avery as well as Antonin Dolohov. Lily had a strong loathing for all three of them and much to her disgust, Severus seemed to relax in their company.

Lily leaned back in her seat and glanced around at her fellow classmates, crossing her arms against her chest. As she did this, a vile smell assaulted her nostrils, making her nose scrunch up. She glanced across the room towards the front where it had come from. She saw Sirius and James whispering frantically to Peter who was nodding his head so much, Lily thought he would surely crack his neck. Remus had his nose buried in a book, and Lily could have sworn he was munching on a chocolate bar from Honeydukes which he so often did.

A minute after the bell to signal the beginning of class rang, Professor Slughorn's belly waltzed into the room, a second later his actual body followed. He bellowed a good morning to the class and in return he received mumblings and grumblings of a slightly incoherent, "good morning, professor". He shuffled behind his desk and unlidded the large cauldron sitting there. Lily, along with the rest of the class, leaned forward to get a better view of what was inside. It was a clear liquid that she recognized straight away as Draught of the Living Death.

"Now today in class, we will be working on a very advanced potion," he gestured to the filled cauldron in front of him. "Can anyone tell me what potion sits in here?" Lily's hand shot deftly into the air. Slughorn beamed as he called on her. "Yes, Ms Evans?"

Her hand fell back to her side as she answered. "That's Draught of the Living Death. If made correctly it will make the drinker fall into a death like sleep. If made incorrectly, the consequences could be dire." Slughorn's smile grew.

"That's correct! Take ten points for Gryffindor." Lily smirked at Freya who was making faces similar to the drama masks seen at the theatre. "We will be having a sort of competition today. Now I don't expect anybody to finish the potion completely but, I do expect to see some good results from some of you." He glanced at Lily and Severus. "The person I chose as winner will receive an once-in-a-lifetime reward." He pulled out a small bottle with a cork on the top and jingled it like a baby teasing a kitten. "I won't be saying what exactly resides in this bottle until after." He slipped the tiny vial back into his pocket. "Now, off you go!"

While everybody else whipped out their textbook, _Advanced Potion-Making, _Lily took out a small, leather-bound journal she kept with all of her potions tips and techniques she picked up and used over the years. The previous year, she had concocted the Draught of Living Death with Severus during one of their free classes with Slughorn. She pushed the thought of Severus from her head and pulled out her needed materials. Swiftly but precisely, she began to cut and add the ingredients to her cauldron.

Across the room, James and Sirius were not nearly as concerned with their potions as they were with sabotaging Snape's. They blindly weighed and measured their ingredients as they watched his cauldron, waiting for the right moment to send Peter in to drop the dungbomb in it. Their potions had both turned a nasty mix between brown and purple, while Remus' was a bit chunky, it was still the correct shade. Peter's, on the other hand, was thick and black; Slughorn shook his head at the boy when he walked past. Once the professor had past their table, Sirius pointed his wand towards the cauldron of Phoebe Jones, a Slytherin sixth year. After a second, Phoebe's potion sprayed all down her robes and soaked anybody else who stood close by, including Snape. As the group of Slytherin girls began to shriek, James patted Peter on the shoulder, the signal for him to walk towards Snape's work and drop the dungbomb inside. They watched as he scurried up to the front of the classroom, unnoticed by most, and quickly deposited the surprise in the unsuspecting Slytherin's cauldron.

The second after Professor Slughorn had successfully cleaned up the station and vanished Phoebe's potion, Snape's whole cauldron exploded, emitting a fowl smelling odour that made its way to every corner of the room. There was a chorus of gasping and coughing followed by the laughter of many Gryffindors, the Marauders included, as the smoke cleared to reveal Snape, whose eyebrows had been singed off and whose once dirty robes were now filthy and full of Draught of the Living Death.

After calming down his laughter, Sirius called out to Snape. "At least now you have an excuse to shower for a change, eh Snivellus?" This earned the boys another round of laughs from the surrounding students. Snape's face went red under the mask of potion that covered his entire body, save his shoes. Slughorn hurriedly cleaned up the station again, telling Snape how disappointed he was that he would not be able to see his finished product. He had Antonin Dolohov escort him to Madam Pomfrey, just to ensure that everything was okay.

Lily glanced over to her left to see that James and Sirius were sniggering into their cauldrons, her eyes narrowed and she would have bet one hundred galleons that those two were behind the whole thing, but then again, she had no proof besides their previous schemes against the Syltherins, particularly Severus. Lily turned to make her point to Freya, but her train of thought derailed when she saw Freya scooping potion from her cauldron into her own.

"Freya Adelaide MacGregor," Lily scolded. Freya glanced up, unfazed by the use of her full name. "What in God's name do you think you're doing with my potion?"

She grinned. "First of all Lily, I'm not doing anything in God's name, and second of all, I'm not doing anything to _your _potion, I'm doing something to _mine_." She dropped one final scoop of Lily's light pink, nearly clear potion into her own cauldron before mixing the two potions together to create a smooth lilac colour. Freya glanced at her textbook and shrugged. "Good enough for me."

Lily gaped at her incredulously for a moment before shaking her head. "You are the epitome of lazy, Freya." Freya made a face.

"Oho, look at Lovely Lily Evans and her big fancy words." Lily just grinned and shoved Freya's head in the opposite direction. She waved her arms wildly as she attempted to regain her balance. "Hey!" Before Lily could tease her, Slughorn called the class' attention to the front of the room.

"All right everybody, please settle down." He waved his arms to get their attention. Once he believed everybody was listening, he clapped his hands. "Now I will go around the class and examine what each and every one of you has produced. At the end of seeing all of the potions I will choose a winner." The students mumbled in understanding and moved to stand behind their cauldrons, awaiting the verdict on the winner. Slughorn began at the front of the class and made his way back, occasionally making noises of approval or disapproval. When he reached Peter Pettigrew's cauldron, he shook his head in disappointment, but moved onto give Remus, James, and Sirius reassuring smiles. "Just a little bit of tweaking and these would be perfect boys." They gave him crooked smiles. When he reached Lily's table, he smiled at the girls and examined Sylvia Parker's first. She had been busy staring at Sirius backside during class and had barely managed to get a chunky dark purple like liquid in her cauldron. She flushed like mad when Slughorn gave a shake of disapproval. Paige on the other hand, had produced a slightly too pink potion in her cauldron, but she received a smile from Slughorn anyway. "It just needs a bit of work, Ms Williamson." Freya was next. She smiled at him charmingly as he glanced down into her cauldron. "Ah, well done, Ms MacGregor. If you would have had a tiny bit more time I'm sure you could have gotten it done." He patted her hand warmly before moving on to Lily. Freya's smile dropped immediately and she began to make ugly faces at the professor's back. Lily had to struggle to keep in her laughter. When Slughorn looked into Lily's cauldron, he beamed and let out a cry of joy. "Oho! We have a clear winner here!" He smiled at Lily, his bushy moustache stretching on top of his lip. "Well done, Ms Evans, well done." He clapped his hands and gestured for the rest of the class to do so as well. "You know, I always thought you should have been Sorted into my house." Lily let out a laugh.

"Oh, I don't think I'd fit in too well there, Professor." She gestured to her dark red hair. Slughorn let out a hearty laugh.

He pulled the small vial out of his pocket and held it up to the class. Lily gasped when she realised what was inside. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Now, I'm sure you can tell me what this is, Ms Evans?"

Lily nodded. "It's Felix Felicis; Liquid Luck. While it does make the drinker extremely lucky, it's dangerous to take in large quantities and even more dangerous if brewed incorrectly. It's unbelievably hard to make." Slughorn seemed to jump up and down from giddiness.

"Right you are! Take ten points for Gryffindor." He handed her over the small, corked bottle. "I am only giving you a tiny amount, but it should last twelve hours." Lily looked down at the molten gold potions encased in her hand. "Now, it is banned from being used during tests, and sporting events, but I shouldn't worry," he smiled at Lily, "it's in good hands." He turned back to address the rest of the class. "Now for next Monday, I want a twelve inch essay on the effect of Draught of the Living Death. That is all for today." He smiled at the students as they rushed to get out of the class. Freya was eyeing the tiny bottle in Lily's hand curiously.

"Does it actually work? Make you lucky I mean?"

Lily looked baffled. "Of course it does! I haven't ever tried it but other people have and apparently for them it gives the perfect day." She stashed it into her pocket. "I'm going to save this for something special."

The girls made their way to the library where they, along with the majority of the older students, spent their free time. Lily and Freya both liked to get their work done as soon as possible, allowing them to have more time for fun on the weekends. Easily enough, the only work they had left to do was their new Potions essay along with an essay on the Bird-Conjuring Charm they were studying in Transfiguration.

The girls picked a table in the back and began with their Potions work. Freya constantly had to stop and check her book or crane her neck to look at Lily's paper. They worked in silence for a while; the only sound in the library was the scratching of quills on parchment. Lily felt a strange chill run up her spine making her shiver. She glanced at the seat to her right, it was still as unoccupied as it had been when they arrived, but she could have sworn it had moved back slightly. She shook her head and gripped onto her quill tighter, turning her attention back to her work. She continued to work, but a slight scratching at the edge of her hearing kept distracting her. She glanced back at the chair again, but it was still the same. Frustrated at herself for getting so distracted, she began to write furiously, hoping to keep her concentration away from the scratching noise. However, she found that when she wrote faster, the scratching speed increased as well. She growled, making Freya look up from her work, confused

"What's going on?" Lily blew out a long breath of air and mumbled a quick "nothing". Freya stared at her for a bit longer before shrugging and going back to her work.

Lily went back to her work as well, convincing herself that she just imagined the noise. Once fully immersed in her essay, she realised that she had not heard the scratching noise for some time. As she bent her head down to continue her work. She felt a hot burst of air hit her neck. She let out a girly gasp and spun around to see who had done it, but again, no one could be seen. She turned back around to face Freya, who was grinning at her.

"What?" Lily snapped.

She held up her hands innocently. "Nothing, nothing; it's just funny to see you get all hot and bothered by air."

Lily glared at her. "It's not air! I swear somebody is doing it!" This earned her a dramatic eye roll from Freya.

"Lily, there isn't anybody behind you."

"Well maybe they're using a Disillusionment Charm."

Freya gave her a sceptical look. "To do what exactly? Copy your Potions notes?"

"Maybe!" Lily's voice had risen a bit, making the people sitting closest to them look up.

"Shh!" Madam Pince put a finger to her lips to remind the girls they were in the library. The two mumbled apologies and went back to arguing, much more quietly this time around.

James Potter left the library under his invisibility cloak with a cheeky grin on his face. Once safely outside of the doors, he threw off his invisibility cloak and stashed it in his pocket. Taking a few short cuts, he skilfully made his way up to Gryffindor Tower to meet his friends. He clutched a piece of parchment tightly in his hands as he gave the password to the Fat Lady (Pumpkin guts).

He climbed through the portrait hole and clambered up the stairs to the sixth year boys' dorm where he threw open the door and waved the piece of parchment triumphantly in the air. Sirius let out a whoop of happiness when he saw it and Peter clapped his hands amusedly, Remus just rolled his eyes.

"Well done, Prongs!" Sirius grabbed the sheet and scanned through it. "This should be enough to get the job done."

Written on the piece of parchment was a list of notes James had taken whilst sitting next to Lily in the library. Unbeknownst to her, James had been sitting under the invisibility cloak and copying the points she made in her essay as she wrote. Despite knowing he may get caught, he blew air down her neck just to get a reaction out of her.

"You know," Remus began, "you can't keep copying Lily's essay notes. Slughorn is bound to notice someday."

"Ahh," said Sirius. "But alas, that day shan't be today my good friend." He joyfully wrapped his arms around Remus and began to dance. Stiff but cooperative, Remus allowed himself to be spun around a couple more times before disengaging himself from Sirius.

Laughing at the exchange between his two friends, James made his way back to the door. "I'm going to grab some food from the kitchens; do you lot want anything specifically?"

Sirius grinned and followed. "I'm starved. I'll make sure to grab you something, Wormtail yeah?"

Peter shook his head. "Can't. I have Divinations next block."

James frowned. "Why do you still take that class?"

Peter blushed sheepishly. "It was one of the only subjects I did well in during our OWL's."

James shrugged. "All right then, we'll catch you later." He turned to Remus. "I'll be sure to grab you some chocolate pudding, Moony." Remus called out his thanks as the two dark haired Marauders shut the door behind them. The boys bounded down the stairs and dashed across the empty common room before resuming a swift, idle stroll down to the kitchens, a place they could both be found quite often.

When they entered, the house-elves all looked up in delight. Twix, an irregularly small elf wondered up to them, smiling. She had thin, droopy, bat-like ears, a tiny button nose and two big, watery orange eyes.

"Hello, Mr Potter and Mr Black; how can we elves help you today?"

James smiled at her gently. "Well, Twix, I would like a nice tray of pumpkin pasties if that's not trouble."

"And I seem to be craving brownies." Sirius piped up.

The house-elf smiled at them warmly. "Right away, sirs." She bowed and then headed away towards the group of elves waiting to cook for the boys, who were moving to sit down at the closest long table.

"So," Sirius drawled, "full moon on Sunday night. Moony seems to be holding up okay at the moment though."

James nodded in agreement. "I've been noticing that since last year, he's gotten a lot less miserable about them, " he winced suddenly. "Though I'm sure it still sucks to transform for him."

Sirius sucked in breath. "I reckon I'm one lucky bloke considering he forgave me for what I did to him with Snape last year." He snorted. "Still think that pathetic git deserved it though."

James gave him a pointed look. "No one deserves to be ripped up or turned into a werewolf… not even Snivellus."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "He was asking for it! Trying to follow us around to see where we went every month."

James continued to glare at his friend behind his large glasses. "We're not having this conversation again. What happened that night is in the past, besides, Moony doesn't deserve to become a murder because of our stupidity."

"_My _stupidity, Prongs," Sirius corrected

Twix hobbled over carrying a silver tray with their food balanced atop it. She placed it on the table and the plates magically moved to their designated person. The boys smiled charmingly at the petite elf.

"Will the sirs be needing anything more," she asked politely.

Sirius shook his head of fine hair. "If I could have a glass of milk that be real wonderful, Twix." With the quick snap of her fingers, a tall glass of milk appeared next to Sirius. He grinned at her.

"I don't believe we'll be needing anything more. Thank you, Twix." Colossal tears began to well up in the tiny house-elves' eyes. She wiped them quickly on the hem of her dress (which was actually a curtain).

"There's no need to thank Twix, sirs. Twix always feels happy when Mr Potter and Mr Black come to visit."

Sirius patted her hand. "We enjoy visiting you, too." The compliment was the kiss of death for the tiny elf who burst into tears and curtsied quickly before dashing off.

James shot his friend a crooked grin. "You just love messing with them don't you?"

Sirius shrugged but the corner of his mouth turned up. "It's funny to see them get all riled up."

James shook his head. "You're a terrible wizard, Sirius Black."

Sirius' handsome face lit up with a wicked grin. "Trust me mate, I know."

*†‡†*

Freya sat playing with Lily's hair on her bed as the latter idly flipped through the pages of _Witch Weekly_ magazine. She wasn't nearly as enthralled with it as she made out she was, but she looked at the pictures anyway.

Freya's mind lay elsewhere. She had been trying to get Lily to go out on the ground during the full moon that Sunday but Lily had refused numerous times, even taking the matter to Hagrid, who had no luck knocking the idea from Freya's head.

"I'm really glad you've decided to grow your hair out." Freya commented. Lily's hair had previously only reached a bit below her shoulders, but the summer had blessed her hair with a great growth in length. Her dark red hair now reached the middle of her breasts, a few inches shorter than Freya's that reached her stomach.

"Me too," replied Lily without taking her eyes off the magazine in front of her.

Freya bit her lip, unsure of how to start up the conversation she so badly wanted to discuss. She finally gave in to herself and started out casually.

"So, Nugget, I've been thinking—," Freya was cut off by her friend's cheeky voice.

"Wow, that's news to me." This earned her a whack from behind. "Ow," Lily exclaimed, her hand shooting to rub the back of her head.

"Don't give me cheek, Evans." She pointed a warning finger at her; Lily just scowled and smacked it out of her face. "Now, anyway, I've concluded your fear of Remus on the full moon has got to be irrational."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "And how is my fear of a werewolf on the full moon irrational?"

"Because since he's at school, Dumbledore's got to have him locked up somewhere away from students, yeah? So Remus couldn't possibly be out on the school grounds."

She seemed to consider this. "While that might be true, Freya, I highly doubt Dumbledore would be so inhumane as to lock Remus up in the dungeons."

"I never said he was locked up in the dungeons, I just said he'd be locked up." Freya pointed out.

Lily shook her head. "Regardless of Remus and his… condition, Hagrid said it would still be really unsafe for us to go out onto the grounds and I think that even in our animagus forms it would still be just as." Her voice dropped down to a whisper even though there was no one else in the room. "You know some people believe there are Death Eaters in the Forbidden Forest."

Freya snorted. "You know that's just a load of tosh. You-Know-Who is afraid of Dumbledore. He'd never risk attacking the school."

Lily still had an uneasy look about her. "Still, Freya. We shouldn't do it; better to be safe than sorry."

This time it was Freya who rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the advice, Gran."

"Oh, shut it, you know I'm just trying to make sure you live to see the age of thirty."

"That's cause I can't die before you and James get married, otherwise no one will be there to say 'I told you that you fancied him'." Lily pretended to gag as Freya shot her a grin. "If you guys have a baby girl you have to name her after me." Lily laughed.

"Most definitely not going to happen."

"Well if you insist on it being a boy then you ought to name him Oliver Thomad." She gave Freya a strange look.

"Why Oliver Thomas?"

She shrugged. "His initials would be OTP and it has a strangely nice ring to it."

Lily smiled despite the weirdness of her friend. "That is the worst idea I have ever heard. Besides," she sat straighter. "If I had a son I would name him Harry."

Freya's nose scrunched up as if smelling something vile. "Harry Potter?" Lily nodded. "Doesn't sound very good, does it?"

The girls laughed freely, unbeknownst of the future they would one day come to face.

The next day in the Great Hall, the two were sat eating breakfast at the table when the Marauders joined them, sans Remus. This didn't go unnoticed by the girls.

"Where's Remus," Lily asked with a frown. Sirius stuck his hands deep inside his pockets and James's shot straight to his hair.

Sirius lied through his teeth easily for his friend. "He's with his mum. She's got the flu." He made a grotesque puking motion. Lily scoffed and moved further away from him.

Freya raised an eyebrow. "Term's barely just began and he's already been whisked home?" She turned to the smallest Marauder, Peter, whom she was known to loath. "And what d'you say of this?" Her eyes narrowed sharply, reminding him what would happen should he attempted to lie.

Peter appeared to become smaller as he cowered away from the red head.

"Peter is beaten on enough by the Slytherins," James began, giving Freya a disapproving look. "He doesn't need any more from someone in his own house."

Freya snorted but stopped glaring in Peter's direction. "It's not exactly the house he deserves to be in, is it?"

James gave her a cheeky reply. "Last time I checked you weren't the Sorting Hat."

Freya bristled and moved to draw her wand, but Lily stopped her. "Let me be the voice of reason here." She addressed James first. "You of all people should know that you have no right to call somebody out for bullying another student. You do it on a daily basis." She turned next to Freya. "I'll never understand why you dislike Peter so strongly but—,"

"Cause he's a little rat is why!"

Much to Peter's dismay, Sirius let out a loud laugh. Lily glared at him.

"You keep your mouth shut, Black." Sirius raised his hands in a gesture of innocence. Lily turned back to Freya and James. "Let's just leave the differences for another time, children."

Freya snorted. "If I remember correctly, just a few days ago you were playing tug of war with Sirius and using my body as the rope."

Lily felt a faint blush tint her cheeks. "Yeah, well Sirius brings out the worst in everybody."

That morning granted the Gryffindor Quidditch team the perfect flying conditions. As per usual, there was an abundance of people, most of who had never even flown on a broom and were simply hoping to get the attention of James Potter or Sirius Black.

Freya and Lily sat in the stands watching the goalies try out. Frank Longbottom was by far the best one they had seen so far; he had blocked four out of the five goals, the one he hadn't been able to stop was James's. The other two chasers, Charlotte Kelly and Anna Roberts were passing the ball back and forth in the air idly. The two seventh years drew the eye of many of the younger boys who had come to the try-out.

To the left of Freya, Alice Prewett and Mary Macdonald sat down. She and Alice had been standing by the railing to watch Frank, whom Alice was dating. She turned to the two redheads.

"Didn't Frank do wonderfully," she asked with a love-struck expression on her face.

Lily smiled at her sweetly. "Yeah, he did really well! And he almost stopped James's shot but that one looked a bit tricky."

Mary let out a giggle. "I bet if anybody could stop James Potter from scoring a goal it be you, Lily."

Freya grinned. "I reckon he'd take one look at you on a broom and make a mess of his trousers." She made an explicit gesture with her hands to go along with her words. Mary burst into laughter as Lily's face turned as red as her hair. Alice gave a half smile.

"Don't be disgusting," she said. A curious expression crossed Alice's face. "Have you ever flown, Lily?"

"The only time I flew on a broom was first year and it was the worst experience of my life." Her lips thinned a little as she remembered. "I hate heights to begin with and when Potter found out he thought it be funny to see how much he could make my broom shake. I ended up crying for an hour." Alice looked horrified.

"That's terrible."

Lily cracked a small smile. "Freya punched him in the nose for me though, so in a way it was worth it."

"I broke his nose in two places and got only a week of detention." Freya smiled at the girls. "So worth it and all the muggle cleaning I had to do in the trophy room."

"Hey," Mary said. "Isn't that the girl James asked out the other day?" She pointed down to Estella Kingsman who was by the railing, talking to her younger sister, Aurora who played Seeker.

"He didn't ask her out," Lily snapped quickly. Mary raised an eyebrow at the quickness of her retort. "They just talked."

Freya shook her head. "No, James was definitely flirting with her. You could tell by the way he talked to her. If I recall correctly he also promised to spend the rest of the day with her if she watched his try-out or something." She eyed Lily. "Still not going to admit you didn't like Jem talking to her?"

Lily's eyes narrowed to green slits. "Of course I don't like him talking to her!" All three girls looked taken aback. "I-I mean, I don't like him talking to her because she's really sweet and he's probably just going to snog her and then toss her."

Again Freya shook her head. "Contrary to your belief of James, he's actually a gentleman." Lily gave her a pointed look. "In his fourth year, he only snogged three girls, all of which he took out on a date at least once."

Lily rolled her eyes dramatically. "Wow, at least one date, huh?"

Alice and Mary giggled.

*†‡†*

James emerged from the locker room with a confident smile on his face. Try-out's had gone great and everybody from the previous year's winning team was back to play. He glanced around for Estella, whom he was supposed to spend the majority of the day with. He found her waiting to the side, looking slightly nervous. He swaggered over with his broom hung on his shoulder and his hair extra wind-swept. When she saw him, a sweet smile turned up the corners of her mouth. James didn't feel his stomach flip the way it usually did when Lily smiled.

"Hi, James." She spoke politely, as if she was afraid to offend him.

He grinned at her. "Ready for our date?" She blushed at the word date.

"Of course."

He smiled at her genially and motioned his head towards the castle. "Great. I just need to drop off my broom at my room and then I'm all yours."

Her smile widened as she followed him. "That sounds good to me."

"So, Estella," James began. She looked up at him. "Tell me a bit about yourself."

She pursed her lips in thought.

"Well, I'm a fifth year from Cheswick in London. I have a little sister, but you already knew that." She paused, searching for information. "Um… I like to be around and help people. When I have time I help out in the hospital wing," she glanced up towards the blue sky. "I'm not sure what else to say…" she let out a breathy laugh, toying nervously with her hands.

"Oh c'mon, there's got to be more," urged James. "What's your favourite class?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, but I'm probably better at Charms."

"Any pets," he asked as he pushed open the castle doors.

"Yeah, I've an owl named Twyla." She looked up at James's face with pretty brown eyes. "I'd like to know more about you though," she said coyly.

He shrugged. "I'm unbelievably rich, smart, and devilishly good looking," he gave her a wicked smile, "what else is there to know?"

Estella gave a sweet laugh and lightly smacked his arm. "Your interests! Things you enjoy, things you don't enjoy, favourite foods, and things like that."

"That's a mighty long list form someone who couldn't name a few things about herself." James teased her.

She blushed and looked at him from behind her long brown lashes and spoke softly. "Maybe you just make me forget myself…"

James wrapped an arm around her waist, the other holding his broom, and turned to face her. "Then maybe I shouldn't be around you," he whispered huskily.

Her hands came up on their own accord to rest on his chest. "Maybe I don't mind forgetting."

He stared down at her and she stared back with a burning look about her that made James think of Lily. They stayed like that staring at each other until two voices came around the corner, halting their conversation at the sight of James and Estella. James broke his gaze away from the petite brunette in front of him to see Lily and Mary standing to the side of them, frozen. Lily's eyes were narrowed as she met James's gaze.

Mary went to apologise for intruding. "Our bad," she said backing away. "Please, carry on." She pulled her friend away and back towards the common room. Lily tore her eyes away from his at the last possible moment. Mary, who was sprinting back towards the direction of Gryffindor Tower, dragged her around the corner of the corridor.

"Mary, where are we going?" Lily said puffing to keep up.

"I've to tell Freya and Alice what we just saw!" She tossed quickly over her shoulder as she continued to run.

Once they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Mary gave her the password in a breathy voice and slipped through the hole as quickly as she could. The girls, panting and out of breath, found Freya and Alice sitting amongst a group of cushions on the floor in the common room. They dashed over to the sitting figures and Mary blurted out everything she saw.

Freya and Alice both had openly surprised looks on their faces when she had finished her tale.

"Are you sure it was them," Alice asked. Marry nodded quickly.

"No doubt about it, and the thing is… I think James was about to kiss her! I feel so bad for interrupting."

Lily frowned. "He was not going to kiss her."

"Are you kidding Lily? There were like this close," she held up her index finger and thumb, squeezing them together until they were almost touching, yet not quite all the way together.

"They were just staring…" Lily mumbled.

"More like gazing into each other's eyes." Mary sighed dreamily. "Estella sure it lucky."

While all of this had gone on, Freya had never once taken her eyes from the face of her best friend. Unbeknownst to Lily, she had let every emotion shine on her face, making it too easy for Freya to read her.

"What did they do when they saw you guys?" She said, still staring up at her.

"Estella's face got really red, and James… he just kinda stared at us."

Freya noticed Lily's left eye twitch and knew there was something else. Hearing the portrait door open, the girls turned to see the two people they had previously been discussing walk in. James whispered something to Estella before taking off towards the boy's dormitory with his broom hung over his shoulder. Estella waited by the exit, a small nervous titter to her. They four girls tried their best not to stare.

After a minute, James returned and whisked the waiting girl away from the common room and far from the prying eyes of the rest of the Gryffindor girls.

Once outside the common room, James led Estella down onto the grounds towards the lake. The sun was still up and shining, a bizarre sight for fall in Scotland. The couple fell into a slow walk together and made their way around the lake, talking and laughing with each other.

Occasionally, James would pull out the Snitch he had snatched and show off a few moves for her, making her clap her hands in applause and smile sweetly.

By the time the sun began to set behind the tree line, the pair had already returned to the castle. They stood at the base of the steps leading towards the girl's rooms as they said goodnight.

Estella wore a wide smile on her face. "I had a really nice time with you today, James."

He smiled back at her. "I did too. I'm glad I asked you to spend the day with me."

A soft blush crept up her cheeks. "I am as well." Quickly, she leaned up and pressed her light pink lips to his cheek in a chaste kiss. "Goodnight," she called as she retreated up the stairs.

James grinned and called after her. "Goodnight."

Once he heard the door to her room shut, the grin slid off his face. Guilt lanced its way through his body After Estella had kissed him, he had wished for it to be Lily in her place.

**Its not very long and exciting and I had meant to write more but I felt bad that I hadn't posted anything sooner. I'll try my best to get the next chapter out sooner. Thank you so so much for reading.**

**Angela xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Just wanted to say a quick thank you to yerawizardelsa for the review and for everybody else for reading. Thanks a ton and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you ****recognise. **

James watched as the rain pounded down on the glass window in the Gryffindor Common Room. He sighed; soon he would have to go out and brave the terrible storm to make his way to the Whomping Willow to meet Remus for his transformation. He sat on one of the plush red chairs by the fire with Sirius and Peter, waiting for the last few stragglers to make their way up to their dorms for the night. There were a few fifth years still up towards the other side of the room writing furiously on their rolls of parchment, most likely trying to finish one of their numerous essays.

James glanced back at his two friends. Peter was sitting on the floor close to the fire staring blankly at the carpet as one of his short, pudgy little fingers drew patterns in it. He seemed to be tracing the shape of a horribly drawn heart. Each time he finished it, he would brush it away and begin to make another one. Sirius on the other hand sat in the chair diagonally across from James. His head turned to the right to gaze into the fire, his usually light grey eyes dark; reflecting the red and yellows of the flames dancing next to him. His face had a thoughtful look to it, one that he rarely bore unless something seemed to trouble him.

"Padfoot." James called. Peter jumped slightly and turned his head towards James but Sirius didn't look away from the flames. "Padfoot." He called again, louder this time. Still, Sirius didn't drag his gaze from the fire. "Sirius!"

This time he jumped, surprised to hear his name called. He shook his thoughts from his head and turned his attention towards the voice of his friend, eyes narrowed in annoyance. "What?" He barked.

James frowned at him. "What's wrong with you, mate?"

Sirius shook his head and ran his hands over his face and through his hair, pulling at the silky black strands. "I don't know, Prongs. It's just…" he glanced towards the fifth years as they made their way up to the dorms. When he heard the door shut he continued. "When you were out with Estella yesterday I went hunting for Peeves to have a bit of fun but instead I saw a group of Slytherins hexing some little second year. A Hufflepuff by the looks of it." Sirius closed his eyes. "The kid was in real bad shape so I stepped in. I yelled at the Slytherin prats to get lost and you wouldn't believe who turned around." Sirius paused. "I couldn't believe it."

"Who was it?" Peter prodded quietly.

"It was Regulus and the Carrow twins. My own little brother turned around and pointed his wand at me." James's eyes were wide with disbelief. "Of course when he realised it was me he lowered his wand. The other two little brats looked like they wanted to pick a fight with me but Reg pulled them away down the hall, and I just let them get away. I guess I was a bit shocked. I knew Reg hung around an ugly bunch of kids but hexing defenceless second years?" Sirius shook his head. "I called him a coward as he ran away but he didn't look back."

James had his head cast down. "We used to pick on kids from the younger years, Padfoot."

"Yes, I'll admit we picked on them, but we never did it repeatedly. It was always sort of a short happening in the corridor or something. Nothing as bad as they were doing."

"But you do hex and curse Snape a lot." Peter commented.

Sirius let out a growl that made the tiny boy shrink back.

"Snivellus is a special case." Explained James. "Besides, we only resort to curses in certain circumstances." He turned his attention back to Sirius, his face filled with concern. "Are you certain it was Regulus?" Sirius nodded making James sigh. "Are you going to talk to him?"

Sirius was quiet for a moment before nodding his head again. "Tomorrow after classes I plan to find him and ask him what the hell he and his little Death Eater friends think they're doing."

James eyed his friend curiously for another moment. "Is there something else bothering you?"

For the first time that evening the corner of Sirius's mouth tilted in a half smile. "I talked to Freya the other day."

Peter seemed to tense as James quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"That girl wants me," Sirius exclaimed. "I know she does." This earned him an eye roll from his friend.

"You think that about every girl, Padfoot. Just because you two seemed to hit it off this summer doesn't mean anything." James shrugged. "Maybe she was just horny."

Peter coughed loudly and Sirius let out a laugh. "We didn't even snog and you think she was 'just horny'? Mate, if she had been horny I would have gotten to shag her numerous times."

"Well the females at this school are bloody confusing so I wouldn't know," said James scowling. "And I thought I told you to lay off Fey."

Again Sirius grinned. "I know, I know, but I was just curious as to why this summer she was so cosy with me and then towards the end she starts to completely ignore me. It's like she thinks I turned into a different person or something."

"Did she tell you why she's been ignoring you?"

"Nope," he supplied. "She said that she didn't want to be some slag I shag once in a broom cupboard and then toss away."

"Sounds like a valid reason to me."

Sirius frowned at his friend. "In all truth, I've never shagged a girl in a broom cupboard."

"But you do snog a lot of girls." Peter pointed out.

He shrugged. "So? Freya's different. She can actually hold my interest and keep a conversation going. And not to mention she's bloody beautiful, too." Sirius smiled to himself. "She's got this amazing laugh that kind of reminds me of tinkling bells, you know?" He looked up at his friends. Peter had his head bent down and James was giving him a look.

"I know what Freya's laugh sounds like but thank you for your insight on it."

A slight flush crept up his neck. "Whatever mate, at least I'm not fawning over her like you do with Evans."

Now James was the one blushing. "I don't fawn over Evans."

"Do to."

"Do not."

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

Peter eyed the two with a scared glint in his yes. "Um…" he tried to intervene, but his quiet voice didn't have any effect on the hot headed best friends.

The two were so intent on each other that they didn't notice the portrait door swing open.

Freya and Lily tumbled into the common room expecting it to be empty, but instead they found James and Sirius head to head, glaring at each other while Peter sat helplessly watching from the floor. The best friends looked like they were trying not to laugh and stay serious in their fight, which proved hard for them. The girls froze.

"Are we interrupting something?" Lily asked with a raised eyebrow her lips twitching up into a smile. Freya was trying not to laugh but a small giggle escaped her lips. She quickly clamped her hand over her mouth and tried to stifle her giggling but more laughter seemed to be tumbling out of her mouth. There was something off about the girls.

Sirius's gaze was directed at Freya who looked as if she was about to keel over from mirth. James looked up at Lily's smile and his heart skipped a beat. Peter frowned as he was the only one to notice something strange about them.

"It's a little late to be out wandering the halls, don't you think, Evans?" James said jauntily. Lily giggled at him; his face looked so funny for some reason. She walked over, almost falling forward a couple of times. James stood up and gripped her forearms to help balance her and keep her from tipping over. Lily giggled again and reached up, spreading her fingers over his face and playing with his cheeks. He frowned as she prodded and played with his face. Lily wasn't acting like Lily. "What's wrong with you, Evans?"

She didn't answer. Instead she pulled James's glasses from his face and placed them on her own. Her nose scrunched up as if she smelled something bad. "Wow, Potter. You really do have shit vision."

Sirius laughed from his place on the floor as he attempted to get Freya to stand up, a concerned looking Peter gazing over his shoulder.

"I think I know what's wrong with them, Prongs." James looked over at the dark blur he hoped was Sirius.

"What?"

"They're drunk. Freya reeks of Firewhiskey."

"No kidding," he asked as he attempted to get his glasses off of Lily's face. She kept giggling and slapping his hands away, stopping their progress. "Where do you think they got it," he asked before he quickly grabbed both of her small, dainty wrists with one of his much bigger hands and pulled the glasses off her face. He set them back to their place to see a content passed out Freya in the arms of Sirius. Lily on the other hand was very much awake and ready to get back James's glasses.

"Oh c'mon, Potter." She protested. "You're being no fun." She bit her lips and got closer to him, leaning over to whisper in his ear. "Don't you want to have a little fun," she asked suggestively, her tongue darting out quickly to lick the shell of his ear. James felt a shudder run through him.

"_Merlin, _Evans," he exclaimed. "You're a right siren when you're drunk." _And sober_…he silently thought to himself.

"Oy, Prongs," Sirius called. He had laid Freya down on the couch, not expecting her to wake up anytime soon. "Stop flirting with, Evans. We're late to go meet Remus." James looked out the window to see the sun had set and the moon had begun to slowly come out. He swore under his breath.

"I've got to go, Evans. Sorry." He pushed her towards Freya, but Lily latched onto his arms and dragged herself back to him.

She pouted. "But I want to stay with you."

James groaned at the horrible irony of the situation. "At any other point in time, it be really lovely to hear you say that, but now is not a good time." Lily bowed her head and thinking she had given up, he turned to leave but then he heard her sniffle. He glanced back at her to see her bring up a hand and wipe something off of her cheek. "Oh for the love of Merlin please do not tell me you're crying."

Right as the words left his mouth she let out a terrible sob. "Why doesn't anybody want to have me around?" She cried, falling dramatically down to her knees. All three boys watched in horror. None of them had ever really had to deal with crying, drunk girls. James turned towards Sirius for help but his friend simply shrugged at him. He turned back around to her.

"Err," he started. "It's not that we don't want to have you around, it's just that we're really quite busy right now."

Lily threw up her arms in exasperation as big, crystalline tears streamed down her porcelain face. "Everybody is always t-too da-damn bus-sy! Fir-first Mason head-ds off with Katherine Kinney after pat-patrols and no-now yo-you don't even wa-want to stay in the common roo-room with me-e." She wailed at him. "And Katherine Kinney isn't ev-even that goo-good looking! Wha-what does she ha-ve that I do-don't?" She hiccupped as she attempted to speak through her tears. "And Mar-lene is to-too busy with her ne-new boy toy to come around with us any mo-more! He's not ev-even th-that good loo-looking ei-either."

James couldn't believe he was about to comfort Lily on her boy troubles with Mason Davies. "Katherine is on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and Davies is her captain; she probably just wanted to talk to him about practice or something and I'm sure Marlene will hang round with you guys soon. Her and Miles just started to date so it's normal for them to be wrapped up in each other…I think."

Lily continued to snivel for a few moments more before her cries started to die down. James sighed as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her bridal style over to the couch. He placed her down softly on one of the large, plush chairs by the fire across from her best friend. He stood up to leave, but Lily grabbed onto him again. He glanced down at her face to see that it was slightly puffy and splotchy from crying, but she that had stopped and was now staring up at him strangely.

"You know, sometimes I don't think you're half bad, Potter."

James smiled at her and gently pried her slender fingers off of his arm and placed them down onto her stomach. "I'm glad to hear it, Evans. Now get some sleep." He stood up to his full height and quietly walked away towards his waiting friends. Together they huddled under his invisibility cloak and walked out of the room. By the time they reached the portrait hole, Lily was fast asleep.

The three boys tried their best to keep their bodies hidden under the cloak as they ran through the castle, but occasionally a foot could be seen seemingly popping out of thin air before quickly disappearing.

"Well," began Sirius as he ran, "I've never had to deal with anything like that before."

James gave a grunt as he pushed open the castle doors and turned to move towards the willow getting soaked as they did. "Tell me about it."

They stopped a few meters short of swinging distance of the tree and sent Peter out to activate the knot at the base of the trunk. He shrunk down to his Animagus form and scurried over, swiftly pressing the knot. James took off the cloak and shoved it into his pocket before running over with Sirius. The boys entered the tunnel, all of them already in their Animagus forms save James, whose antlers were too big for him to walk freely in the tunnel. Right before entering the Shrieking Shack, he transformed; his limbs elongating and turning thinner and his head sprouting large antlers. He stepped into the shack in the form of a large, proud Stag.

They found Remus in the upstairs bedroom ripping apart the bed, content. Peter scurried over to the table which he took shelter under in case Remus got antsy.

With all of their Animagus forms being different, the boys had limited communication for they were only able to understand short and direct sentences from each other. James called out to Sirius making a sound between a moo and a pig's oink. "Stay inside?"

His black pointed ears perked up at the noise and even Remus looked over, his werewolf form appearing slightly curious.

Sirius barked out a yes before returning to rough house with his werewolf friend. James huffed and ungracefully sank down to the floor to watch the two dogs banter and fight, only jabbing them with his antlers if he thought they were getting too carried away.

Estella preoccupied his mind as he relayed the events of the day before which he spent almost entirely in her company. Sure she was a really sweet girl, but James just couldn't feel that spark with her. He pondered what he should do about it. He could, on one hand, take her to Hogsmeade next month or just call it quits with her. There was of course still the fact that he was going to throw Sirius a seventeenth birthday party next week. Maybe he could talk to her then. All Gryffindors fifth year and up were allowed to go so Estella was bound to be there. With that settled for the time being, he glanced up at his friends.

Sirius was pawing at the door to the tunnel leading out of the shack; he looked as if he wanted to go out. James stood up to his full height as a stag and herded Remus towards the door. The large werewolf growled at the stag but followed the black dog out nonetheless.

Once they were outside and free of the willow's branches the four bounded off towards the forest in the rain. When they reached the woods, Sirius nipped at Remus's heels to guide him through it until they stopped at a small clearing with a pond towards the middle. The pond was connected to a small creek that led off into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. A few animals were present, but they scattered quickly at the sight of Remus. Sirius dashed into the water, barking at his friends to join him. Peter sat at the water's edge watching and James stood there as well, but some movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Across the pond, at least a hundred metres away, he thought he saw a figure cloaked in black, walking away. James's heightened senses allowed him to see far in the dark, but the rain blurred his vision and he was unable to be sure of what he was seeing.

Dismissing it as a fleeing animal, James turned back to his friends and waded into the pond, splashing water at the two canines with his antlers.

When the Marauders returned to the Shrieking Shack, the sun was already just peaking over the horizon. Remus collapsed onto the ripped up bed, exhausted from the night of rough housing.

James walked over to the bed, pulling one of the tattered blankets over the sleeping wolf. He didn't want Remus to feel indecent when he woke up. After a few more moments, a faint sunlight drifted through the boards. Remus's body began to shake and convulse before shifting back to his lanky human body. The three other boys followed suit.

The boys left the room without Remus, (Madame Pomfrey would come get him in the morning) and headed back towards their own beds; their lack of sleep threatening to take over.

When they finally entered the common room, Lily and Freya both lay sleeping in the same position in which the boys had left them. The fire in the fireplace had been reduced to embers and Ace, Freya and James's cat, lay cuddled up on the floor between the two friends sleeping, but he raised his head when he heard the three boys enter the room. He stretched luxuriously before striding over to rub himself against James's shins.

James crouched down and rubbed the cat behind the ears, making his small chest rumble with pleasure.

"Been keeping watch over the girls I see," he said to the cat. Ace just looked up at him and blinked.

A groan from the couch made them look up to see Freya stretching her arms above her head making her shirt rise up, revealing her bare, flat yet toned stomach and slightly jutting out hip bones to just below her black lace bra where the slight outline of her ribs could be seen. Anybody would have killed to have the same body as Freya and the revealing of her midriff didn't go unnoticed by any of the boys. James quickly walked over and tugged her shirt down before turning his head to glare at Sirius. His friend gave a wolf like grin and shrugged as if to say, 'Can you blame me?'.

Freya's eyes opened slightly and she attempted to sit up, but before she could get far she let out a hiss of pain and her hands shot up to cradle her pounding head.

"Little bit hung over, are we?" Said Sirius as he walked closer, plopping down on one of the chairs. James knelt down on the floor next to her, his face full of concern.

"What in Merlin's name happened to you two last night?"

Freya popped one eye open slowly before doing the same with the other. She had to squint in the darkness to see for a moment before her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting coming from the embers of the dying fire. "All I remember is meeting up with Lily after her rounds of patrol with Mason. She looked pretty angry if I remember correctly. She ranted on how Katherine Kinney showed up at the end of her patrol and whisked Mason away." Freya rubbed her temples. "Then I think we met someone in the hallway, I can't remember who and when they walked past us they dropped this full, unopened bottle of Firewhiskey in my hands, and I was so surprised I nearly dropped it. I think we tried to go after the person but we never caught up to them."

James was staring at her incredulously. "And you drank it?" He exclaimed loudly. "What in the world possessed you to drink something you got from a bloody stranger, Freya? He could have put drugs in it." James ran a hand through his hair. "Blimey, I thought you were both smarter than that."

She shrugged as if it was no big deal. "It wasn't my idea to drink it; it was Lily's."

"Wait," said Sirius, surprise filling his voice. "It was Lily's idea to drink from this bottle of Firewhiskey you got from a stranger?"

Freya nodded her head. "Lily's been in a sour mood since James asked out Estella. She won't admit it, but I think she fancies you. Lily thinks it just because she liked your attention and that she can get attention from Mason, but I think she's just in denial." James's eyebrows rose up in surprise. She paused, a frown sliding over her face. "I don't think I was supposed to say that."

Sirius let out a whoop of triumph. "Hear that, Prongs?" He exclaimed. "Evans fancies you!"

James ignored him. "Are you sure she fancies me?" He asked her hoping she would confirm it.

"Nope."

He frowned. "On a scale of one to ten how sure are you," he asked.

Freya thought about this. "Hmm, maybe like a….no, maybe like, like a seven." Her voice rose at the end making it sound like a question. He let out a puff of frustration and glanced over at the sleeping form of the girl in question. "I think by Christmas break, Lily will admit to liking you."

James whipped his head around, surprised by the bold declaration. "How do you know?"

Freya shrugged again. "It's just a feeling I'm getting in here." She reached up and poked his forehead.

Sirius burst into laughter. "I think that's the hangover you're feeling, love."

Freya scowled. "No, I know my best friend. She's in denial and I think she'll run away from James because she doesn't want to fancy you because you're an arrogant prat."

"Wow, Freya. I didn't realise you felt that way." James said sarcastically. "Thanks."

She smiled and placed her hands on either side of his head before squeezing it as if she were trying to make it smaller. "You just have to deflate that big head of yours that comes with your ego. Then she'll really like you. She already thinks you've got a fit body and good looks." Freya stopped squeezing his head.

James grinned and ran a hand through his hair. "She does?"

She nodded. "She'd be mortified if you found out what she's said though, so even though I'm still a bit tipsy I won't tell you what she said."

"Oh c'mon," he pleaded. "Just one bit."

Freya stared at him while he gave her puppy dog eyes. "You know that's never worked on me James Alexander." He pouted his lip out further. All of a sudden Sirius kneeled down next to him and was giving Freya his best puppy dog look as well. She glared at him. "That's the ugliest face ever." The two boys continued to stare up at her, but Peter had never joined for he had already fallen asleep. "Sorry, but it's not working." She sat up straighter and swung her legs over the side of the couch to stand. The boys, facing their defeat, helped her to stand up. She squinted at the clock but wasn't able to make out the time. "What time is it?"

"Half past six," James replied. "I'm going to run up to our room real quick and grab a potion to help sober the girls up."

After successfully getting to her feet, Freya stood freely for a second before slumping back down onto the comfy chair.

"I don't want to go to classes today." She whined. Sirius smiled and plopped down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"We could always skip classes together." He said suggestively, waggling his eyebrows as he did. Freya turned her head to face him, a retort ready on her tongue, but it never came out.

She always knew Sirius was good looking, but sometimes it still surprised her how good looking he really was. Sirius's hair fell gracefully around his head, one strand always tending to fall in front of his right eye. It was longer than James's hair, but the back was just about the same as Remus's, though Sirius's hair was longer in the front, coming to about the top of his cheeks. Also unlike Remus and James, the back of his hair curled up slightly around his ear as it came down a little bit further than the bottom of it. He had straight, sharp black eyebrows, with sharp yet light grey eyes to match. Outlining his eyes were thick, dark lashes that curled up only at the tip slightly. His jaw line was defined, but a bit more feminine than James's. His nose fit his face perfectly; long, yet straight and it had the tiniest point up to it at the end. His lips were an extremely light pink and they were thinner than her own, but his lower lip, she noted, was a tiny bit fuller than his upper. They were also slightly stretched longer than hers were as well, most likely because he was always grinning. She also noted that a bit of five o'clock shadow could be seen framing his lower face.

Freya was jolted out of her thoughts by his deep, husky voice. "Do I pass?" Sirius's mouth was turned up in a crooked smile and his eyes danced with laughter. She felt heat crawl up her neck onto her face as she blushed from being caught staring. "Go on and tell me; do you like what you see?" She knew he was trying to seduce her, and it was sure as hell working, but something nagged at the back of her mind.

She looked up into his eyes. There was no sign of madness or evil in them at all. The nagging voice at the back of her mind ceased. Freya was never good at Divinations and she now realised the nightmare she had was simply a personification of what she feared when it came to Sirius. That he would just use her and then betray her, but she knew Sirius. He was funny, smart, arrogant, big headed, and weird…but he was also kind, and unbelievably loyal. Yes, Sirius Black was a lot of things, but he wasn't a killer.

"Freya…" he said quietly. She hadn't said anything cheeky to him after he caught her staring, which was strange for her. He felt his heart pounding irregularly in his chest as she gazed up at him with her silver eyes like mercury.

Freya felt something flutter in her stomach as Sirius bent his head down towards her. She realised too late that it wasn't butterflies.

Her hand smacked directly onto his face as she forcefully pushed it away causing him to let out a grunt of surprise as well as pain. She then quickly turned to the side and over the edge of the couch she puked up everything she had eaten the day before.

Disregarding himself, Sirius pulled back her long curtain of red hair, making sure none of the puke got into it. After she had finished emptying her stomach, she sat back up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She didn't meet Sirius eyes, she was much too embarrassed. With a quick spell, he cleaned up the mess before turning to her.

"Are you okay," he asked, concern lacing his voice.

"I'm fine," she mumbled. "Just dying of embarrassment."

Incredulously, Sirius laughed. Freya's head shot up and her eyes narrowed to glare at him, but he was smiling at her. "Don't be embarrassed. What's there to be ashamed of?"

"Are you kidding?" She exclaimed. "We were about to…" she gestured between them, not sure what was actually going to happen seconds before. "And then I spat up everywhere. How is that not embarrassing?"

Before Sirius could reply, James came bounding back into the common room.

"It's almost seven so people are going to start waking up." He handed Freya two vials. "One's for you and one is for Lily. Drink the whole thing, it'll get rid of your hang over and get you awake." They all glanced over at Lily who was starting to stir.

Freya slipped off the couch. "I'll see you guys at breakfast then. Thank you so much for everything, Jem." She glanced at Sirius. "And you too, Sirius." She went to kiss James's cheek but then remembered she had just puked and moved away, blushing. She slipped the vials into her pocket and levitated Lily so that she followed behind her suspended in the air.

"We should both go get cleaned up too, Padfoot." Nodding his head in agreement, Sirius stood up and followed James back to their room, reminiscing in the absurdness of their night.

Peter lay fast asleep behind the couch, content in his own land of dreams.

After successfully waking up Lily, The girls hurried to get ready, before the rest of their dorm mates woke up. Once showered and nice smelling, they quickly dried their hair and donned their uniforms and hats. They checked to make sure they looked nice in the mirror, before Freya dug into her pockets for the small glass vials that James had given her. She passed one to Lily who uncorked it and wafted the smell towards her. She gagged.

"This smells horrible, are you sure this isn't some dud that Potter is giving us as a joke?"

Freya shook her head. "Jem was really concerned about us, Lily. I don't think he would pull a joke like this."

Her face softened at hearing this. "Well…okay, let's just get this over with, bottoms up." The girls raised their potions in a quick toast before flipping them back, making sure to drink every last horrible drop.

Once their vials were empty, they gagged, but the immediate effects of the potion set in. They felt their visions clearing and their senses become more alert as they woke up and lost the fogginess of their hangovers.

Freya tossed the bottle into her trunk before shutting the lid and grabbing her things for her first two classes. "That was wretched, but it did do the trick."

Lily looked down at her watch. "Common, it's already half past seven." She glanced at all the girls still asleep in their beds. "They should really learn to wake up earlier." She grabbed onto Freya and proceeded to drag her as per usual.

"Not everybody is as mental as you, Nugget."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Very funny."

When the girls reached the Great Hall, James and Sirius were already seated at the Gryffindor table. Both boys had their heads situated on their left hands as their right hands spooned food into their mouths.

Lily and Freya giggled at the sight of the pair, still half asleep, feeding themselves. The girls sat down across from them. James looked up when he noticed they had arrived.

"Good morning, ladies. Fun night," he asked with a cheeky smile on his tired face.

Lily blushed at the tiny details came rushing back to her. "Sorry for stealing your glasses, Potter."

His eyebrows rose in surprise. "You remembered that?"

She nodded. "I remember most of what happened unfortunately." Sirius laughed.

"You looked pretty cute as a drunk until you started sobbing."

She blushed harder. "Shut up, Black." She threw a grape at him. Remarkably, he caught it in his mouth. She shook her head. "You're such a dog."

James chuckled. "You really have no idea."

Soon enough, the hall started to become more crowded as gradually students came and filled the room. Freya noticed Estella walk in with her friends. The brunette had a small smile on her face as she glanced quickly over at James.

Freya turned back to the two boys in front of her. "So, Jem," he glanced up lazily, "how did your date with Estella go?" She felt Lily stiffen slightly next to her.

He shrugged and continued to play with his food. "It was all right, I guess. She's really nice and stuff, but I don't really think there's anything amazing between us." He chanced and glance at Lily who was gazing at him with her bright green eyes. She let out a breath of air she didn't realise she had been holding. The two continued to stare at each other blankly before Freya interrupted.

"And Lily," she tore her gaze away from his hazel eyes. "How're things with Mason?"

She gave a half shrug and grabbed a steaming croissant. "He's really sweet, and he has this cute nickname for me, Red." She smiled at the memory. "He's great, I think he's going to ask me to Hogsmeade." James frowned at the new information.

"Do you fancy him, Evans?" Piped up Sirius unexpectedly.

Lily narrowed her eyes. "What's it to you if I do?"

Sirius glared back. "Oh, just the little fact that you're deliberately trying to make Prongs jealous with this little boy toy of yours."

Freya froze in the middle of spreading jam onto her toast and Lily's jaw dropped slightly.

"Padfoot…" James warned.

"No," Lily said, "please, Sirius, enlighten us with your theory on my relationship with Mason."

"I just have one question, deep down, do you even really like him?"

Lily just glared at him before she stood up and gathered her things. "I'll see you in class, Freya." She said before quickly departing the table.

The lone red head glared at the two boys.

"Way to go, Black. Now she's definitely going to admit to fancying Jem." She shoved toast in her mouth. "Honestly, if you just leave her alone she'll figure it out for herself."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "She's just being stubborn."

Freya scowled. "No, she thinks Jem is arrogant, and too immature." She turned to James. "Just grow up a little bit, you already have since last year."

He perked up. "You think I really have a chance?"

She nodded. "Of course you do, like I said, you've just got to deflate that head of yours a little bit." She looked down at her watch. "We better move, at the pace you two walk it'll take us years to get to class."

After another few minutes of staring at their food, the three stood up and left for first block.

Unfortunately for the boys, they had classes for the first two blocks that morning. Fortunately, they had no classes after that. James and Sirius barely managed to stay awake in Potions; if it hadn't have been for Freya running back and forth to do their work for them, they probably wouldn't have gotten anything done.

The next block, which was Charms class, they gave up their battle of staying awake.

Lily watched in amusement as James and Sirius put down their heads and finally fell asleep. She remembered the majority of what happened the night before, but the end was still a bit fuzzy. Her eyes slid over James's sleeping form. His lips were parted slightly and his glasses had been pushed up onto his forehead. She thought for a second that he looked unbelievably adorable. She shook her head at herself.

James Potter is not adorable. He's a prat. And an arrogant, no good, bullying prat…but when she glanced back at him again, he didn't look like any of those things.

She sighed and turned back towards the front and thought of Mason. They'd been patrolling together for nearly three weeks now, but Lily found that she just couldn't look at him as more than a good friend. She obviously thought he was good looking, but there was just something missing. A small voice in the back of her head that sounded eerily like Sirius spoke up.

_Deep down, do you even really like him?_

She glanced again back at James who wore a small smile on his face. She found herself wondering what he was dreaming about.

*†‡†*

After all the day's classes were over, Sirius wondered the castle looking for his younger brother hoping to find him before Quidditch practice that evening. He made his way down to the dungeons where he knew the Slytherin Common Room was located. As he walked, he noticed a young boy with the green crest of Slytherin on his cloak. He chased after the kid and pinned him against the wall.

The boy cried out in fear when he laid eyes on Sirius whose handsome features had been transformed into an angry mask.

"Do you know who Regulus Black is?" The little boy nodded his head vigorously. "Do you know who I am?" Again, too afraid to speak, the boy nodded. "Find me Regulus in ten minutes and bring him here, kid. Or else." The boy's eyes went wide with fear and he nodded his head again before taking off. Sirius smirked as he watched the kid's tiny figure dash away.

He leaned against the wall to wait, expecting the kid to take longer than the allotted time he had been given. Much to his surprise, the kid returned with a confused looking Regulus Black behind him. Once he noticed his brother, he stopped in his tracks. He turned furiously to the younger boy.

"What the hell, Snyder? I thought you said I was going to meet your older sister?" He yelled at the younger boy who turned out to be Barry Snyder, the little brother of a Slythein girl in Sirius's year.

Barry cowered away from Regulus before taking off towards the stairs.

Sirius finally pushed off of the wall to face his brother. Regulus was scowling at him. Without warning, Sirius lunged forward and yanked Regulus's left arm out of his cloak sleeve, examining his inner forearm. There was nothing there. Regulus quickly pulled his arm back and tugged the sleeve down over it.

"So," Sirius drawled, "not an official Death Eater yet I see."

Regulus kept the scowl on his face. "What does it matter to you, anyway? You don't even care about me."

Sirius's eyes narrowed sharply. "Of course I care, Regulus! You're my little brother. You're the one who doesn't care."

Regulus's eyes widened for the fraction of a second before he went back to scowling. "That's a lie. You've never cared about me or our family! Right after you left mum blasted you off of the family tree."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Like I give a damn whether or not I'm on that ugly family tapestry. Our family is dysfunctional, Reg. You need to get out before it's too late. Stop hanging around with all those wanna-be Death Eaters." He stared down at his fuming younger brother.

"Maybe I want to be a Death Eater! Did you ever think of that? The Dark Lord promises to give us futures and he actually cares."

Barking laughter devoid of any real humour sounded in the dungeon corridor. "He doesn't care! He has no feelings, Reg! What kind of idiot are you listening to that is giving you these insane, delusional thoughts?"

The words were flying out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Snape isn't an idiot!"

Sirius stared down at his brother in disbelief before fury took over his features. "_Snape?_" He exclaimed. "Severus Fucking Snape? That greasy nosed git is up to his ears in the Dark Arts and you _hang around _with him? What the hell is wrong with you, Reg?"

He bristled. "What's wrong me with? What the hell is wrong with you! I care about my future and the future of my family! I have a plan to be successful! What do you do? Run around with your dumb Mudblood and Marauder friends causing trouble? You're nothing, Sirius! You don't even belong with your own family! We hate you!" The second the words left his mouth he regretted them.

Sirius didn't say anything, his face was an emotionless mask.

"Wait, Sirius, I didn't mean that, I −," Sirius held up his hand to stop the younger boy's apology.

"Don't talk to me anymore, Regulus." He said calmly. "Don't seek me out for help of any kind and I hope to God you don't see me around school because I will not hesitate to curse you." At his older brother's next words, Regulus's stomach dropped. "I've a new family, a better one… we're not brothers anymore, Reg. I don't think we ever were."

Without waiting for a reply, Sirius turned around and walked away without looking back.

Feeling more alone and guilty than ever, Regulus decided to go to Snape, who could always be found in the library. He began his trek up to the third floor where it was located.

Once he had entered the large room, Regulus began to search for Snape; looking in the majority of the places one would think to find him. After what felt like years of walking up and down the rows of shelves, he finally gave up his search. Turning out of an aisle, he made his way to the door when a head of dark red hair caught his eye. Regulus stopped short of the exit and back tracked to the table where Freya MacGregor sat writing her essay for Transfiguration's class.

He took the seat directly across from her, and Freya, thinking it was Sirius she saw in her peripheral vision, didn't glance up.

Regulus cleared his throat to get her attention. The quill in her hand paused for a second before she quickly resumed her writing, speaking to him without glancing up.

"What can I help you with, Black?"

His eyes widened in surprise. "How did you know it was me?"

Again Freya's quill stopped and she looked up, bewildered. "Regulus?" She said in a strained and confused voice. "Merlin, I thought you were your brother." He blushed at her words, remembering what had just conspired between him and his brother.

"Oh…" he mumbled, unintelligently. "Well I'm not." He saw amusement pass through her silver eyes.

"Yes, I can see that now, but you do look startling alike… although your hair is much shorter and neater than Sirius's and your nose is shorter, too." She smiled at him. "Sorry, I'm around your brother a lot unfortunately."

He cracked a small smile. "Right, speaking about my brother I was wondering if you could maybe do me a favour."

Freya raised a neatly manicured eyebrow. "That depends on the favour."

Regulus couldn't put his finger on it but something about Freya made him trust her, and not knowing how to ask her the favour without telling her the full story, he simply told her what had happened between the two of them. A warm flush crept up his neck when he finished, feeling guilty and embarrassed all at once.

Freya had her lips pursed and turned them a bit to her right as she regarded him. Her face was almost devoid of all emotion except for one: pity.

After a few moments of staring at him and debating her moves, she finally spoke. "Okay…I think I know what you want me to do then." When he didn't answer she carried on. "Apologise to him for you right?"

Sheepishly, Regulus nodded. "He won't listen to me, and even if I get close enough to tell him, I'd probably end up in the hospital wing." He watched as pity took over her features once more.

"I'll do it," he perked up slightly. "But I don't know if Sirius will listen to me either. He's as stubborn as a mule your brother." She smiled at him sweetly and he knew she was trying to cheer him up. She began to clear the table of her things. "Anyway Regulus, I just want to tell you that Sirius is right; the people you are hanging around do not care about you. Not in the way friends should care for each other." She stood up. "Just be careful, all right? Usually if somebody who was hanging around with wanna-be Death Eaters came up to me and asked for a favour, they would have ended up in the hospital wing." She smiled at her play off of his words. Regulus was blushing, embarrassed. "But, you're different. I can tell that deep down you know what's right and you're a huge softy." She reached out and poked his chest with her finger making a chill run down his spine. "Just like Sirius I might add." She made to exit, leaving Regulus to mull over what she had said to him. He turned to watch her leave, his eyes wandering down to the sway of her hips before he shook his head and forced himself to look away, a flush creeping up his neck.

She had pretty much said the exact same thing that Sirius had, but coming from her it sounded different; sounded better.

Freya was walking through the quad when a voice called out behind her. She turned around to face a very out of breath Severus Snape. She looked at him confused.

"Snape? What are you doing?" She pulled him aside so that he could sit on a bench and catch his breath.

"I," he huffed, "I have…to ask…ask a favour."

She scowled down at him. "You're the second Slytherin today that's asked a favour of me and the first one had a valid reason. I have absolutely no reason to help you."

"You just did." He pointed out how she had pulled him to a bench.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, but that was out of pity, you really should try to work out more, my cat has more meat on his bones that you."

Snape glared at her. "I didn't come here for your cheek —,"

"Yes," she interrupted. "You came for a favour, one that you will not be getting." She turned to leave, but he grabbed onto her cloak sleeve. She tugged on it, making him fall forward off the bench.

"Just please," he begged, "please give this to Lily." He held up a small white envelope with spidery handwriting scrawled across the back.

Freya gave and exasperated sigh. "Haven't you had enough rejection from her? She's never going to take you back as her friend, Snape! If there is one thing Lily hates more than anything it's the Dark Arts and you're in over your head with all of it." Severus was silent. "She told me that you didn't even deny it when she accused you of wanting to become a Death Eater! Do you know what Death Eaters do, Snape? They kill and torture innocent muggles and muggle-borns. I'm not sure if you remember correctly but Lily is a muggle-born. I know you have feelings for her that normal friends don't harbour," Snape looked up, startled. "Anybody with eyes can tell that you do, they can also tell that those feelings are unrequited." He looked down again.

Severus couldn't meet her blazing silver eyes. He choked back a sob and held up the envelope again. With a growl of frustration she ripped it out of his grasp and shoved it in her pocket. Before he could look up she stormed away to Gryffindor Tower.

When she entered their room, she found Lily on her bed reading a book. She looked up when Freya entered.

"There you are! You didn't meet me after patrols ended, what took you so long?"

She threw the note at Lily before sprawling out on her own bed, tired.

Lily noticed the handwriting on the back, but she didn't believe Freya would give her something from him.

"What is this?"

Freya sighed. "Snape practically grovelled at my feet and begged me to give it to you. It's probably an apology note or something." Lily looked down at it with disgust written all over her face. Swiftly she grabbed her wand and set the envelope on fire, the letter still intact. Freya leaned back on her elbows and watched it turn to dust. "You didn't read it."

"I already told Severus that I didn't want anything to do with him anymore. That wasn't a lie and it sure as hell hasn't changed. It will never change, not as long as he's so consumed by the Dark Arts." Getting up from the bed, Lily quickly ran a brush through her hair. "I'm hungry." She declared.

Freya laughed. "Well isn't it a shame that supper isn't for another hour and a half?" She ducked as Lily threw the brush across the room at her.

*†‡†*

Luckily for Lily, the time flew by and before they knew it, they were sitting down for supper in the Great Hall. A little bit after the girls had sat down, the Gryffindor Quidditch team walked in. Almost every girl in the hall swooned as James ran a hand through his messy hair, making it look even messier. He grinned at the reaction he got, but when his eyes landed on Lily she was frowning.

He and Sirius walked over and sat down across from the two red heads, not really noticing that Peter wasn't there.

"How did the first practice of the season go," asked Freya as she poured herself a cup of juice.

James smiled. "It was actually pretty good. I was happy to see that everybody on the team had practiced what I told them to during the summer. We're going to be in great shape for our game against Slytherin in a month."

"Good because do you know how embarrassing that be if you lost?" She snorted. "McGonagall would have a fit." She glanced up at Sirius and remembered that she was supposed to talk to him at some point about Regulus's apology. "Hey, Black." She called. He looked up at her.

"You called for me, my dear?"

Freya rolled her eyes but a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "When you're done eating I need to talk to you…alone."

Lily and James both wore the same expression of surprise at her words. Sirius just grinned, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Can't wait," he said winking at her.

Lily glared at her. "What the hell?" She whispered. "You're going to leave me alone with Potter? And what are you going to tell Sirius?"

Freya sent her friend a cheeky grin as she shrugged. "Just try to pretend like's he's not there, and what I'm going to tell Sirius is his secret to tell, whether he knows it or not, but if you really want to know I'll tell you later." The girls grinned at each other before turning back to their food.

Wanting to know what she had in store for him, Sirius shovelled down the rest of his food as quickly as possible. After about ten minutes, he stood up.

"Done," he proclaimed with some food still in his mouth. She rolled her eyes and grabbed some deserts before standing up and walking with him out of the hall. It didn't go unnoticed by anybody that the two were leaving the hall together; even Dumbledore's eyes watched them curiously.

Once outside and away from watching eyes, Sirius began to speak.

He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. "What did you want to tell me?"

Freya glared up at him. "We should head back to Gryffindor Tower. I want to talk in private."

Getting the completely wrong idea, Sirius's mouth turned up in a silly grin as he grabbed her hand making her drop all her sweets and, ignoring her shouts to stop, ran the whole rest of the way up to the common room. Out of breath, he gave the Fat Lady the password before quickly dashing through the portrait hole. He led a tired and heaving Freya up the stairs to his and the rest of the sixth year boy's room. He shut the door behind them and then turned to enfold her in his arms.

"Sirius," she exclaimed out of breath. "Will you hold on for just a minute?" He frowned.

"I thought this is what you wanted to do?"

She laughed, making his insides squirm. "No you dolt! I actually have something I have to talk to you about."

He sighed and released her.

"That's disappointing." He walked over to the opposite side of the room to the bed closest to the bathroom. He lounged across it, sitting back against the headboard and patting the spot next to him to let her know she was more than welcome to join him. Not wanting to get too close but wanting to relax a bit, she sat on the edge of his bed.

Sirius stared at her expectantly. She sighed before starting.

"Your brother told me what happened between you too." She saw him tense up at her words.

"And why would he do that?" He said through clench teeth.

"Because he wanted me to talk to you about it, Sirius. He wants to apologise."

"I don't give a damn what he wants anymore and neither should you. For Merlin's sake, he's involved with Death Eaters, Freya. He even said he hung around with Snape!" Sirius's fingers tangled in his hair as he pulled on them in frustration. "I tried to reason with him but he didn't want to listen to me."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "He's obviously sorry that you two fought, otherwise why else would he waste his time asking me to apologise for him. He said he would have done it himself but he though approaching you would be a ticket to the hospital wing."

He snorted. "He's right about one thing."

Freya stared at him incredulously. "You would hex your own brother?"

"He's not my brother." Sirius snapped. She wanted to shrink back at his tone of voice but she stood her ground.

"Of course he's your brother!" She yelled at him. "You two are more alike than you care to admit, Sirius and I think that leaving him alone in your house while you moved in with James really messed him up. He needed somebody better to look up to and you weren't there. I don't blame him for being upset with you."

Sirius's angry face quickly turned to one of fury. "So you're saying it's my fault that he's going to be a Death Eater?"

"No!" She cried. "All I'm saying is that you could have helped to lead him on a better path if you hadn't have been so absorbed with your own life. I saw all the times before when he would try to come up and talk to you. Each time he did you ignored him. You didn't even give him a chance."

He crossed his arms and looked away from her.

"You didn't hear the things he said to me."

Freya stared at his face, attempting to gauge his emotions. "I did though, he told me and you know what? He looked like he really regretted saying those things. He feels guilty about it, Sirius." When he didn't look at her or reply she sighed in defeat. "I told him that you wouldn't listen to me."

She slid off of his bed and made her way across the room, pausing at the door to look back at him. He was still staring at the wall, his eyes distant. She opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it and left.

Sirius registered that the door had been shut and that Freya was no longer with him but he couldn't bring himself to care. He thought about what she had said to him.

She was obviously wrong. He had given Regulus chances hadn't he? It wasn't his fault that his brother turned out the way he did. No this was all a result of Regulus's choices. He had made the decisions. He couldn't help but wonder if Regulus would have chosen different if Sirius had paid more attention to his younger sibling.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! This was chapter revolved mostly around Sirius, but who doesn't love him? Poor Reg, though. I feel like he was such a lonely soul during his time at Hogwarts. Hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter. It means a ton that you read it! (:**

**Angela xx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi! So thanks to Yerawizardelsa for the review and the story got more than 1000 views and that's really exciting for me! (: So thank you all who have read it, it does mean a lot. Short disclaimer that I don't own anything your recognise from Harry Potter. Enjoy!**

Friday afternoon found Lily and Freya in the library finishing their work for the week before Sirius's birthday party that evening. It was his seventeenth and so James had planned a huge birthday bash for him, making sure everything was perfect from the big things to the tiniest details. Every year the Marauders threw birthday parties for one another (except for Peter whose birthday was in August). They were always grand parties, and usually only Gryffindors were invited, but on occasion a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw would sneak in. Knowing how wild their regular parties get, Freya and Lily both feared for the worst now that they were all celebrating their seventeenths.

Freya, whose hand was cramping up from writing, almost cried out with joy when she finally finished her last essay. Throwing down her quill, she slid out of her cloak and undid the first few buttons on her school shirt before sinking back in her chair, her brain exhausted.

"Thank Merlin that's over," she said stuffing all her school things in her bag. "I never want to look at another piece of parchment ever again."

Lily, who was brilliant in all of her subjects, thought she had slight difficulty in Transfiguration. She blew out a frustrated puff of air as she stared down at her nearly finished essay. She sank back in her chair. "I can't do this right now. My brain is fried." She threw her quill down angrily.

"Just relax, Nugget. You're almost done." Freya said soothingly. She glanced at the stack of books on their table and stood up, grabbing the stack. "I'm going to put these away."

Lily waved her hand dismissively as Freya walked away towards the back of the library, heading for the Herbology Section. Unbeknownst to her, she was being watched and followed. Once she reached the correct shelf, she turned in and set the books down. She lifted the first one and stretched on her tippy toes to place it back in its rightful spot. She was just slightly too short to reach. She huffed before trying again.

Regulus watched her in amusement from the end of the row, unnoticed. His eyes travelled up and down her slender form, pausing at her exposed midriff. Freya gave a small cheer of victory when she was able to get the book back on the shelf; he couldn't help the grin stretching across his face. He cleared his throat quickly making her head snap in his direction, startled. He watched as her body relaxed when she who it was.

"Oh, hello there, Regulus," she said pleasantly. "What are you doing here?"

He walked further down the aisle towards her so that they could talk more privately. "I was actually hoping to talk to you about my favour." Freya's sweet smile dropped.

"Right…" she drawled. Her face changed to one of confusion. "Wait, were you following me," she asked. He blushed and sheepishly nodded his head. She let a small smile grace her face for half of a second before it wavered and disappeared. She sighed before carrying on. "Being honest, it went worse than even I expected, and trust me, I didn't have high expectations." She gave him a look of pity. "I'm sorry."

He let out a sigh of frustration and ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of what else he could do. "Has Sirius said anything about it," he asked desperately. "I mean, like after you talked, did he ever bring it up again?"

He watched as a mix between anger and sadness danced in her eyes. "I wouldn't know, he's been ignoring me." Freya scowled. "How the tables have turned…" she murmured, thinking back to how just a week ago she was the one ignoring him.

Regulus didn't quite catch the last bit she said, for his eyes had travelled down to her partially exposed cleavage. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to remember what they were talking about. "Um," he stammered. "Err, it's all right. I-I didn't really think it would help much anyway." He ripped his eyes away and attempted to smile at her. "Thanks for trying though, Freya."

The corner of her mouth pulled up in a sad smile. "No problem." She turned back to her stack of books. "I should probably get back to returning these. I'll see you round, I guess." She turned to leave, but Regulus stopped her.

"Wait," He said. Freya turned around, surprised. He took the stack of books from her. "I'll put these away so you can go to Sirius's birthday party." Her eyebrows drew together in confusion and she looked down at her watch.

"The party doesn't start for a while, its fine. I can take the books." She reached out for them, but he turned the other way, putting them out of her reach. She put her hands on her hips and gave him a warning look. He just smiled at her.

"You should be able to take your time getting ready," Regulus said softly. "I'm sure you want to look pretty for my brother."

Freya looked away and blushed furiously. "All right… thank you, Regulus." She smiled at him one last time before turning away and heading back to her friend.

Regulus watched her leave and tried to figure out whether it was simply lust he felt for Freya or if he was actually beginning to fancy her.

Lily was standing by the table when Freya returned, waiting patiently. "There you are," she said as her friend approached.

"Here I am," Freya replied grabbing her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. "Let's head down to the Great Hall. I'm famished." Lily agreed and the girls began their walk down.

When they were clear of the library, Freya told Lily about Regulus's visit. Monday evening after her argument with Sirius, she had told her best friend everything that Regulus had said to her as well as what went on with Sirius. Lily was uneasy to trust Regulus after hearing that he hung around with Snape, but Freya didn't think he was harmful.

Lily frowned once her friend had finished. "So he put away the rest of the books for you?"

Freya nodded and blushed. "He told me that I should go get ready for the party so I could look pretty for his brother." Her friend arched an eyebrow.

"Do you fancy Sirius?"

The question made Freya bit her lip. She'd been asking herself the same thing for the entirety of the week. "I don't know." She sighed. "I think I do…"

Expecting to get an earful from Lily, Freya was surprised when she just smiled. "I knew it," Lily smirked to herself. "I've known it since the summer! You fancy Sirius," she exclaimed. "My God, this is too good."

Freya scowled at her. "You know you'll be hearing the same thing from me when you finally admit to fancying Jem."

Lily simply rolled her eyes. "Then I guess I won't be hearing it ever again since that's never going to happen."

"Uh-huh, you can keep telling yourself that." They pushed open the doors of the Great Hall and moved towards the Gryffindor table. There was a buzz at the table because of all the chattering between friends. It seemed that everybody was excited for the party that evening. Not seeing any of the boys. Freya and Lily ended up sitting by Marlene, Sylvia, and Paige. "Hey guys," Freya greeted them as she sat down. They all murmured hellos back, smiling at the two red heads.

"Are you two going to the party this evening," asked Sylvia with a twinkle in her eye. She was watching Freya very intently.

Lily nodded. "I won't be able to stop it from happening as a prefect but I can at least help try and monitor it."

Marlene grinned. "Still the goody-two-shoes we know and love, I see."

The girls shared a laugh before Sylvia spoke again. "You know Freya; everybody's dying to know what happened between you and Sirius Monday night. I mean, you two left together in front of the whole school but some people have been saying he's ignoring you now." Sylvia had a slight uppity tone to her voice.

Freya felt heat crawl up her neck, but she ignored it and shrugged, attempting to act nonchalant. "Nothing happened. We just talked and we didn't exactly agree."

The blonde across from her frowned in disappointment at the lack of gossip material she got. "Oh," was all she replied with.

Freya scowled at her, but no one noticed except for Lily.

The girls ate their suppers quietly, no one except for Sylvia really spoke and when they did it was just to tell her that the gossip she was spreading was incorrect. Wanting to get out of there as soon as possible, Lily ate quickly and nudged Freya to do the same. When they left, all the other girls were still eating.

"Merlin's beard," exclaimed Freya. "Sylvia can be the most annoying person sometimes."

"Sometimes," Lily asked raising an eyebrow. "She's annoying all the time. If she didn't have Paige to drag around I doubt she'd have any friends." She turned to see her friend grinning at her. "What?"

Freya smiled. "You know sometimes you literally drag me around." Lily rolled her eyes at her, but she smiled despite herself.

When the girls entered the common room, they were surprised to see it looking completely normal. Suspicious, they made their way up to their room, curious as to what would happen before they got back down.

They got ready, taking showers and exerting extra care to pamper themselves to look as appealing as possible. After all, everybody knew this party was not one in which you could wear sweatpants.

Right after the two red heads had finished putting on their make-up, the rest of the sixth year girls walked in. Sylvia, who already looked good, simply changed before quickly heading down to the party dragging an unsure looking Paige down with her. Marlene who wasn't going to the party instead grabbed a few things and headed for the Astronomy to meet her boyfriend. Moving on to their hair, Lily did hers into big, loose curls while Freya did the opposite and made her hair pin straight, allowing it to seem longer than it truly was.

They stood in front of the mirror side-by-side inspecting one another. Lily wore a high-waist, black skirt that ended right before her knees and a nice green blouse on top. She had tucked the ends into her skirt, not wanting them to snag or rip. Lily put on black flats with little bows on them, making her look like she was going to a tea party and not one of the Marauders' parties.

Freya, on the other hand, wore something she knew would get Sirius's attention. She was tired of being ignored but if he wanted to play the game she wanted to prove that she could play too. She wore tight, black leather pants that hugged every curve and dip in her long legs. On top she adorned a white, off the shoulder boho top that just managed to cover her belly button. Lily thought it was the perfect combination of daring but still conservative enough. Freya was never the type of girl to dress up in anything revealing so they both thought this would at the very least have shock value. After all, she was wearing much more than Sylvia Parker. Before going down, they each drank a beauty potion that would keep their make-up on well the entire night and make their hair shiny.

They giggled as they regarded each other.

"Wow…" Freya said. "We look good when we push past our laziness and attempt to look nice."

Lily laughed. "Actually, you're lazier than I am."

Freya gasped in mock hurt. "Take that back," she said in her most dramatic voice, making Lily laugh harder.

The girls grabbed hands and headed down to the common room to see it completely changed from when they had last seen it. The lights were slightly dimmed and the regular furniture was all gone. Instead, there was a wooden dance floor, something that must have been a bar, a table for food, and a few small, circular tables scattered around the room. Lily though it looked oddly like a muggle club. There was loud music playing, but Lily couldn't make out who it was. Freya squeezed her hand, making her turn towards her. She pointed at a large tapestry of Sirius wearing a crown that was hung high up on the wall for all to appreciate.

"If only McGonagall could see the common room now." Freya shook her head. "She'd have a heart attack." She looked over at the bar to see Remus handling the drinks. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to be against everything going on. Freya tugged on Lily. "C'mon, let's go talk to Remus." The girls made their way over to their normally tired looking friend who glanced up with a shocked expression to see the two girls dressed in such a manner.

"Lily, Freya," he said with a smile. "You two look lovely tonight."

They smiled and thanked him. Lily glanced around, searching for James and Sirius. When she didn't spot them, she turned back to Remus.

"Where are the birthday boy and his precious best friend?"

Remus smiled at her knowingly before glancing at his wristwatch. "They'll be down soon."

Freya gave a confused look, as she grabbed her butter beer. "What are they doing? Isn't this the party? They already made a freaking giant tapestry of Sirius. What else could they be doing?" He laughed and shook his head.

"Can't say, it's a surprise," he told them. The girls gave matching pouts pushing him to laugh more. "You know you two remind me so much of Prongs and Padfoot, it's uncanny."

Lily's nose wrinkled. "I take that as highly offensive, Remus."

Freya stared out onto the dance floor, spotting Sylvia flush against Jonathan Davies, the two rocking to the beat of the music. She retched at the sight, making Lily spit up her drink a bit.

Lily noticed two younger boys attempting to sneak down from the dorms. She put her drink down. "I need to get those two in bed." She gestured to the kids before taking off, putting on her McGonagall face.

Freya watched her in amusement as she scolded the boys. She glanced at the people on the dance floor again before turning back to Remus. "Will you dance with me," she asked with big, puppy dog silver eyes.

He chuckled. "I think Padfoot would skin me alive if I touched you."

Her smile dropped. "I don't think so. He's been ignoring me this whole week."

"We've all noticed," he said. "But he hasn't told us why. Just that you two got into a disagreement." He eyed her head to toe again. "Although I'm sure once he lays eyes on you he'll put it all in the past."

She blushed and cast her eyes downward, smiling to herself. "You think so," she asked looking back up.

Remus grinned at her. "I know so, Freya. Relax, he'll get over it."

Still slightly unsure, she gave him a quick smile. Lily returned to the bar a second later.

"Merlin's beard, little boys are so much trouble." She glanced behind Remus to see bottles of Firewhiskey. Her eyes went wide. "Remus!" He looked at her. "What in the world are you doing with all that liquor?" She exclaimed, giving him a disapproving look. "You're a prefect."

He shrugged. "It's my friend's birthday, and besides, only sixth years and up get to have some." He held up a list of the sixth and seventh year's names. "I know what I'm doing, Lily." Her face softened a bit but she still didn't look completely happy.

Freya's eyebrows pinched in. "Aren't you going to get out and enjoy the party, too?"

Remus shrugged. "Parties aren't exactly my thing."

"Oh c'mon," she prodded. "You have to have some fun tonight."

"I'm having enough fun right now, thank you very much."

She rolled her eyes as a playful smiled turned up her lips. "I'm flattered that this is your idea of fun, but we should be out dancing. You should be out dancing! Do you know how many girls would be dying to dance with you right now, Remus? A lot!"

He blushed. "I'm not a good dancer, and you're just saying that to make me feel better."

Freya went to retort but before she could a loud boom went off in the common room. Everybody looked up to see golden fireworks raining down from the ceiling to spell out, 'Happy 17th, Sirius Black!'.

A second later, James and Sirius descended from the stairs. Everybody cheered for them when they got down. James proceeded to stand up on one of the tables to hail everybody's attention.

"Hey, everybody! Listen up," he called. All eyes turned towards him. "As you all know, tonight we celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest students at Hogwarts, with more detentions than anyone who came before him." The crowd of people laughed, even Freya cracked a smile. "I'm proud to say that Sirius Black is my best friend and tonight we drink to him." He held up a bottle of Firewhiskey and took a swig, grinning down at Sirius. "Happy seventeenth, Padfoot my friend!" He jumped down from the table and gave the bottle to Sirius who took a swig before holding it up and yelling as he embraced his friend.

"Boys…" Lily said. "They never really get any better, huh?"

Freya laughed and grabbed onto her friends hands, pulling her towards the dance floor. "C'mon, Nugget! Let loose," she cried as she began to move her hips to the music.

Lily laughed and hesitated. "I'm not good at dancing, you know that."

"Who cares? Just shake your ass!" Freya reached out and wrapped an arm around her neck as the two swayed together, laughing and not caring what other people thought. Soon enough, they got lost in the music.

Sirius and James wandered over to Remus who was still at the bar. Peter trailed behind them, his eyes glued to the dance floor.

"Moony," Sirius exclaimed throwing his arms around his friend in a brotherly embrace. Remus chuckled.

"Happy birthday, Padfoot." He said patting his friend on the back.

"How has the evening been so far," asked James, popping open a butter beer. "Any ladies visit you?" He waggled his eyebrows like Sirius so often did.

"As a matter a fact, Freya and Lily were just over here, and might I say, they both look absolutely ravishing tonight."

The two boys perked up.

James scanned the room, looking for the two red heads. "Where are they now?" Before Remus could answer, his eyes landed on the dance floor. "_M__erlin,_" he exclaimed as he stared at Lily, entranced. His eyes trailed up her long, creamy legs to her porcelain face. She had her eyes closed, but as if she felt his gaze, they blinked open. Her emerald green eyes met his hazel ones as they stared at each other. Lily scowled at him and turned the other direction to Freya, who had glimpsed the moment between the two. She grabbed Lily wrist and pulled her towards James, making his heart race with every step she took closer.

"Jem," Freya called enthusiastically. "You look nice." She complimented referring to his blue and black checker flannel. He had rolled up his sleeves and left the top few buttons undone because of the heat in the room and because he wanted to impress Lily.

"Thanks, Fey," he said smiling despite his insides going crazy for standing so close to Lily. "Your outfit is…" he searched for the right words as he looked down at the girl who was close enough to him to be his sister. Normally, he wouldn't let her leave her room dressed like that but seeing how it was a celebration and all... "You look wonderful." She beamed at him and hugged him close. When they pulled away he looked at Lily. "You look beautiful too, Evans." He sent her a grin. Her mouth frowned but the blush on her cheeks told him that she liked his compliment.

"You look fine, Potter." She shot back, making him chuckle.

"Aw, just fine? That's all I get for my hard work?" She rolled her eyes, but her lip twitched up for a second as if she were about to smile. She walked behind the bar to join Remus and busy herself, not wanting to think about James Potter.

James looked out across the room and saw Estella. They hadn't really talked since their date and to James, now seemed like a better time than any as he made his way towards her. Lily watched him leave, squashing the small feeling of jealousy that threatened to surface.

Freya leaned against the bar, her chin resting in her hand. "Is that jealousy I see on your face?"

Lily looked appalled. "Of course not!"

Freya simply gave her a knowing look and shrugged. "If you say so…I'm going dancing." She took off towards the mass of people dancing in the middle of the common room and found Mary.

Sirius watched her with a lustful look in his eye. He had immediately noticed her attire, as had the rest of the males present in the room and instantly he knew he wasn't going to be able to stay mad at her. Not when she looked like that. He had wanted to hate her after their argument because he was afraid that she was right and he wasn't going to admit that, but he couldn't so instead he settled for ignoring her, which proved to be difficult for him. With practically all of their classes being the same and his overwhelming urge to grab her and snog her senseless, he was definitely having a hard time. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Charles Wright, a seventh year, pulled Freya into his arms and started to dance with her. Charles had played Beater on the Quidditch team with Sirius before he took a Bludger to the head. The hit had nearly killed him and from then on his mother forbade him from playing the sport. Sirius's blood boiled with rage as he watched Freya turn her head to see who had grabbed her. Her face lit up in a coquettish smile when she laid eyes on Charles.

Sirius took a long drink of Firewhiskey before slamming the bottle down onto the bar and marching his way over to the couple. When he reached them he spun Freya out of Charles's arms and into his own.

Charles looked as if he were about to protest, but then he noticed who it was. "Black! Happy birthday, mate." He looked at Freya and shrugged. "Sorry, babe but it's his party." He walked off to find another dance partner.

Sirius looked down to see Freya scowling at him. "I was under the impression that we weren't on speaking terms. With you ignoring me and all."

He glared back. "What, did you think I was just going to sit there and watch him run his hands all over you? Sorry, but if anybody is going to be running their hands over you tonight it's going to be me."

She blushed at his words but didn't back down or avert her eyes. "Maybe I wanted him to," she snapped. "Did that thought ever cross that strange brain of yours?"

Sirius tightened his grip around her, pulling her unbelievably closer to him. Their bodies touched everywhere making them both slightly breathless. "Well I didn't want him to." He growled in her ear.

Ever so slowly, they had moved back until they were in a more secluded corner of the room and out of the hot hoard of bodies. Freya stared at him defiantly. "I'm not your goddamn property, Black. You don't own me."

"Really?" He teased. "Because this tells me differently." He leaned down and placed a lingering kiss on her neck, causing her breath to hitch. She tried to squirm away from him but he just held on tighter. He continued planted kisses all up the expanse of her creamy skin, pausing at her jaw. "That tells me differently." He whispered hotly, his warm breath fanning her ear. He placed another kiss on the hollow between her jaw and neck, making her release a breathy moan as he kept his lips placed there.

She tilted her head back and drawled out his name. "Sirius…" He groaned against her skin at the sound of it, pulling back to stare down at her face.

She kept her eyes closed for another moment before they blinked open. They were dilated in such a way that only a silver ring around her black pupil could be seen.

"We shouldn't…" she whispered, but her body rebelled against her mind.

"I want to," Sirius's voice came out as a hoarse whisper filled with the lust he felt towards her.

Her hands balled into fists on his chest, clenching up his Beatles t-shirt and making his heart beat turn erratic. He leaned down to kiss her. Just as their lips brushed in what could barely be called a kiss, his name was called.

"Oy, Sirius! It's time for cake, birthday boy!" Jonathan Davies pushed through the crowd with Remus behind him levitating a towering cake.

Every Gryffindor student present watched in amusement as the two lovers sprang apart and stood awkwardly next to each other. Freya seemed to take a keen interest in the floor as Sirius gave Jonathan Davies a stare that would have lit him on fire had it been possible.

"Oh…" Davies began awkwardly. "The cake can wait, you know, if you're busy or something…"

Sirius let out a long breath as he attempted to calm himself. "Nah, its fine," he grabbed Freya's hand, making her look up. "I'm sure MacGregor won't mind picking up where we left at a later time." He winked at her, masking the true disappointment he felt at their lost moment. Students around them chuckled and Jonathan cracked a smile. "Now, where's my cake?"

*†‡†*

After mostly everybody went to bed, Lily and Freya stayed behind to help the Marauder's clean up. Estella and Sylvia were both there as well, although Sylvia wasn't doing nearly as much work as she was flirting with James and Sirius.

Estella stood next to the two red heads, all three girls scowling at the blonde.

"I don't understand why she's here," said Freya, speaking through clenched teeth. "She's not even helping."

Lily laughed. "You should have seen her face when you and Sirius got caught in the corner." She smirked. "I thought she was going to explode." Estella let out a giggle making the two older girls turn toward her. "Freya wasn't the only one getting cosy with a Marauder tonight." Lily commented. "What were you and James doing?"

The petite brunette blushed. "Nothing really. We just talked…" she smiled to herself. "He asked me to attend Hogsmeade weekend with him."

Lily ignored the small pang of jealousy she felt pulse through her body.

"What did you say," Freya asked as she leaned back against the wall.

The pretty fifth year shrugged. "I said yes, wouldn't everybody?"

Freya snorted. "I wouldn't that's for sure, and neither would Lily here. Isn't that right, Nugget?" She said, grabbing hold of her best friend's shoulders and rocking them slightly. Her smile and voice were almost mocking, as if she knew what Lily was feeling.

"Yep." She replied tightly, giving a thin smile. She turned back to Estella. "Hogsmeade isn't for a while, nearly a month, are you sure you're going to want to go with him by then?"

The younger girl nodded her head. "James has been really sweet to me so far, and unless something happens that changes my opinion about him, I'm definitely going to go." She looked at the two red heads unsurely. "I mean I know he used to like you before Lily, but you don't mind it do you? I mean…you don't like him, right?"

Lily stared down at Estella. She wanted to scream and yell at the younger girl to leave James alone, but what right did she have to do that? She had no claim over James. Hell, she had rejected his many offers and pleas to go on a date with him. She pulled her red lips into a smile. "Of course I'm okay with it, we just both know Potter really well and we want to make sure you know what you're getting yourself into." Lily saw Freya raise one of her eyebrows as she struggled to keep from laughing. Estella didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, well thank you for watching out for me." She smiled at them before covering her mouth as she yawned.

Freya glanced down at her watch to see that it was nearly two o'clock in the morning. "Why don't you go to sleep, Estella? We can handle the rest of this."

"No, its fine, I-I'm not…that tired," she said, yawning again and attempting to hide it.

This earned her a look from Freya before she was nudged towards the stairs leading up to the girls' dormitories. "Goodnight," the two redheads called as she left.

She looked at them slightly sheepish as she made her way to the dorms. Estella glanced at James hoping he would notice her leaving and bid her a goodnight, but she looked over to find him too wrapped up in his conversation with Sylvia and Sirius. She frowned and walked quicker up to her room.

Lily surveyed the room. It was nearly done and back to normal, but the only person who still seemed to be working was Remus. Peter lay asleep on the floor while James and Sirius stood chatting up Sylvia Parker.

The blonde was twirling a strand of her hair around her index finger as she giggled and stuck out her chest, making it look even bigger than it already was. The two boys both seemed to take notice of her… assets.

"Just ignore them," Freya said turning back to rearranging the furniture, making sure everything was placed in its appropriate position in the common room. Lily had nearly finished vanishing all of the garbage when Remus saddled up next to them.

"How's cleaning coming a long," he asked with a smile.

Lily laughed. "It seems like we're the only one's working anymore," she pointed out. Remus glanced at his two other friends before shaking his head.

"Prongs and Padfoot do have a tendency to get distracted."

Freya walked over. "You could say that." She barked. "I'm done rearranging everything but I have no idea where you got all of that." She gestured over to the bar and extra tables.

Remus pointed his wand at everything and mumbled something resulting in the disappearance of all the excess furniture. He smiled. "There, everything has been returned to where we borrowed it from."

"Borrowed?" Lily said with a sceptical look on her face. Remus just flashed a cheeky grin.

"Don't worry about it, Lily." He nudged her and Freya toward their dormitory. "You two should go grab some sleep; we can take care of everything else down here. After all, it was our party."

The girls smiled gratefully. "Are you sure, Remus? We don't mind helping." He shook his head.

"Nah, really you two have done more than enough."

"All right if you're sure…" Lily gave him one last chance to accept her offer of help.

"I'm sure." He smiled. "Now get out of here before I drag you up those stairs."

Lily laughed and Freya grinned as they clasped hands and proceeded to leave the common room, calling a goodnight over their shoulders to Remus.

At the sound of their farewells, both Sirius and James looked away from Sylvia (much to her dislike) and stared after the two redheads.

"Hey," James called. Freya and Lily turned around. "Where are you guys going?"

Lily frowned at him and Freya scowled. "We're going to bed. It's half past two in the morning."

James looked down at his watch as if just realising how early in the morning it truly was.

"Why don't you stay down here with us?" Suggested Sirius, the grin that had slid up his face disappeared when he met Freya's glare.

"Seeing as how you're already preoccupied," she said, her eyes sliding to Sylvia quickly before returning to his face, "It wouldn't seem like our company was needed."

"Or wanted…" Lily mumbled under her breath for only Freya's ears.

James frowned and looked as if he were about to say something else but Sylvia spoke up before he could.

"The girls obviously want to go to sleep. You should let them. I'll stay with you," she offered with an undertone that implied something more than just friendly company.

Sirius hadn't looked at her since his eyes had strayed to Freya. "That's alright, Sylvia. You should head up to bed too. I need to talk to Freya."

Sylvia fumed, but knowing she wouldn't get any farther with them, stormed back upstairs, sending Lily and Freya hate filled glares as she passed.

Freya stared at Sirius, trying to guess what he really wanted from her, but his face hid his intentions too well. She turned to Lily.

"I'll meet you upstairs in a bit, I'm just going to see what he wants."

Lily raised an eyebrow but said nothing before turning away and heading upstairs, calling a goodnight over her shoulder.

Freya walked over to Sirius, stopping just short of touching him. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

He grinned down at her and grabbed onto her hand. "C'mon, let's go somewhere a bit more private. Prongs, haul up Wormtail's arse will you?"

James rolled his eyes but threw the smaller boy over his shoulder and started up the stairs to their bedroom. Freya followed behind Sirius who followed behind Remus who followed behind James.

When they entered their room, Freya got a better look at it this time. There were five beds, all very messy. The one to the left of the door had its cover's drawn; leading Freya to guess it was Jonathan's. James threw Peter down on the bed to the right of the door before heading towards the slightly a jar door on the other side of the room next to what she remembered as Sirius's bed.

"I'm taking a shower. You had damn better keep your bed hangings open, Padfoot." He warned just before he closed the door.

Remus sprawled out over the bed to the left of Jonathan's leaving the one next to the window and between Remus and Sirius's to be James's. Freya noted that the colour scheme was exactly the same as the girls' rooms except while the girls had never put up any posters, a couple could be seen covering the walls around Sirius's bed. Pictures of muggle girls and motorcycles as well as a few muggle bands decorated his corner.

He tugged her across the room towards his bed, kicking off his shoes swiftly before settling himself down amongst the fluffy pillows. Freya stood there tentatively, debating her choices before she sighed and kicked off her own heels, climbing in to sit at the end of his bed, her knees drawn up next to her like a mermaid on a rock. Sirius grinned and closed both of his bed curtains, leaving only the slightest crack to appease James.

Freya gave him a look. "How clever of you."

He continued to grin at her as he lay back on his pillows, placing his hands behind his head in a relaxed position, his feet resting next to hers. She wrinkled her nose and pushed them away. Sirius laughed. They sat in silence for a few minutes, staring at each other. Sirius realised he could stare at her every day for the rest of his life and he wouldn't get tired of seeing her face.

"Let's get to the point, what did you want to talk about, Sirius?"

His face sobered slightly and his motions turned nervous. "I wanted to talk about your favour for my brother and about what happened on Monday."

This made Freya frown. "We both know what happened on Monday and I've already told you everything."

He rolled his eyes and sat up. "I meant I want to apologise for yelling at you, but then again I don't want to apologise."

She snorted. "Your logic amazes me."

He growled at her, frustrated. "I'm just trying to protect you."

"Well I don't need your protection." She snapped loudly. "Regulus does."

James decided at that moment to stick his head in through the small opening in the hangings.

"What's going on in here?"

"We're not doing anything, Jem! Sirius isn't that fortunate." In the background, Remus's laughter could be heard. James grinned and shot a look of false sympathy over to his friend.

"Bad luck, mate."

Sirius masked his disappointment with a joke. "You never know, it could get a little steamy in here with just us two." His hand trailed up her calf, but she slapped it away and glared at him.

"Well in that case, I'll join you, just to make sure it doesn't get steamy." James moved to climb onto the bed, but Freya shoved him off making him fall back onto the floor. She poked her head out.

"I promise that nothing is going to happen between Sirius and me. We're just going to be talking, I swear."

James still looked slightly unsure, but finally relented and got up to go to his own bed. "Fine, but I don't want you to stay the night." He pointed a warning finger in her face. She shot forward and bit it, making him yelp and pull back. "What was that for?" He exclaimed, cradling the injured hand to his chest.

"I'm not a child so don't bloody point your fingers at me, James Alexander."

He rolled his eyes. "Just don't do anything stupid."

"I won't," she said, pushing him away. "Now get your arse in your own bed."

James walked away, exaggerated the sway of his hips to walk more lady like. Remus chuckled and Freya gave a crooked smile before shaking her head and closing the bed hanging completely, leaving her alone on the bed with Sirius. She mumbled a quick Muffliato charm on the curtains so they wouldn't be over heard. It was a spell she learned from Lily, where Lily learned it was unknown to Freya but if she had to wager a guess it would be on Severus.

When she turned back to Sirius, he had a calculating look on his face. "What?" She snapped.

He glared back at her. "I'm just trying to figure out the best way to get you to see that my brother is a selfish prat that doesn't know right from wrong and that he doesn't even deserve to lick your boots let alone ask you for favours."

Freya bristled. "I think I am fairly capable of determining who deserves favours from me and who doesn't."

"If you were you wouldn't be talking to my brother." He snapped back with ease.

Her hand tingled with the urge to slap him as they glared at each other. After a moment, Sirius seemed to calm down, his eyes softening as he stared at Freya who continued to glare at him, refusing to give in.

"Freya, I want you to stay away from Regulus. He's involved with the wrong crowd and I don't want you to get hurt."

She threw her hands up in exasperation. "It's not as if I'm best friends with the guys. I've talked to him twice, Sirius and I am perfectly capable of handling myself."

"I know you are, but you can't stop a bloke from worrying." His eyes searched her face, but she quickly ducked her head down, not looking at him. He sighed and leaned back against his pillows.

Freya sat at the end of his bed, torn between slapping him and storming out of the room or cuddling up next to him and telling him that she was sorry. She bit her lip and planned out her words carefully.

"I know you don't like the idea of your brother talking to me and I understand why, but I can't help but feel sorry for him. The closest thing I've ever had to a sibling was James and I can't imagine what my life would be like without him." Sirius stared straight ahead, not looking at her but listening to everything she said. "I know you two haven't been close in the past and that you don't exactly get on well with your family, but whether or not he wants to admit it Regulus needs you. If you thought it was terrible living in that house then think what it must be like for him. You had James and Remus and even Peter to help distract you and take you away from all of those things. He doesn't have anyone like that. Where do you think you would be right now if you hadn't've met Jem on the train ride in first year?" Sirius had actually thought of this many times, but he had never come up with a solid picture of what his life would have looked like without his friends. Freya continued on. "He's lonely, Sirius. I can't begin to imagine what kind of pressure he's under from your parents to be a Death Eater and he doesn't have any real friends he can talk to. If he said anything to those awful people in Slytherin he'd be done for." Ignoring her screaming brain, Freya crawled up the length of his bed to sit next to him, her heels digging into her bum uncomfortably. "He may have said some horrible things, but can you blame him? Please, Sirius," she begged, "Will you just give him another chance?"

He sat there, staring ahead, the only movement coming from the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Millions of thoughts ran through his head, but only one stood out and seemed to matter. He turned toward her, opening his arms. "Come here…" he whispered. Without hesitation Freya crawled on top of him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck as his wrapped around her, one resting on her lower back as one trailed up to allow his hand to tangle in her silky straight strands of red hair. Her legs came up from behind her to wrap around his hips so that she was clasped around him. Sirius's face nestled against her neck and he began to place chaste kisses along the expanse of her skin. After a few more moments of just holding onto each other like that, he pulled her down so that she fell onto his lap, her arms still around his neck. One hand cradled around her back as the other fell across her lap, his hand gripping her waist.

Freya stared up at him with her big silver eyes before she shifted up slightly and placed her head on his shoulder, her forehead pressed against his neck so that she could feel the tiny tremor of his pulse.

"I can't…" Sirius spoke suddenly. "You don't know him like I do, Freya. He's already past helping. I saw him hexing and cursing a little Hufflepuff last week just for fun, and I'm sure it's not the worst he's done. I know it's not what you want to hear me say but I can't do it. I won't. It was his choice."

She sat stiff and completely still on his lap for a second before she attempted to get off of him, but Sirius refused to let her go. She yanked her hands from around his neck and tried to push against his chest but he held her closer. "I can't believe you." She growled. "He only made that choice cause he felt like he didn't have another one and you're a bloody hypocrite for calling him out for picking on kids from the younger years. You do it all the time!" After struggling for a bit longer she gave up and slumped docile against him. "I can't believe I thought I fancied you," she mumbled. "I hate you..."

He pushed her away enough to look down at her. She had a burning look about her face and he found himself wanting to kiss her but instead he turned away. "Then get out." He growled.

Freya felt her heart drop down to her feet at his words, but ignored it and slid off of his bed. She picked up her heels angrily and not caring that there were four other sleeping boys in the room, stomped across it. "Freya, wait!" She heard Sirius call. His bed sheets rustled as he untangled himself.

"Screw you!" She threw over her shoulder as she opened the door to leave, slamming it loudly behind her.

She was at the bottom of the stairs when she heard the door open and close again. Not caring to look back to see whom it was she made her way across the common room. When she was about halfway to the girls' dormitory, the person behind her called her name. She turned around and threw her heels at Sirius as he marched toward her, easily dodging the sharp projectiles aimed at him.

She stood there, rooted to the spot as he took long strides over to her. When they were in touching distance he reached out for her but she smacked his hands away.

"Go to hell," she snapped.

She turned, her long red hair whipping him in the face; she didn't get far. Fuming with anger he called after her.

"Well I hope you have a fan-fucking-tastic time with Regulus!"

She stopped and turned around, her eyes narrowed. "Maybe I will have a fucking great time with him. Who knows, he might just turn out to be a better kisser than you!"

Sirius's eyes narrowed as he glared back. "If he even touches you I'll cut off his fingers."

Freya gaped at him incredulously for a second before snapping out of it. "You don't own me, you prat!"

A door upstairs banged open. "What the hell is going on down there?" Yelled Jonathan.

Sirius and Freya replied simultaneously. "Nothing!" They glared at each other.

"Is that a lover's spat I hear?" He called down.

Sirius scowled. "Just go back to bed."

"How do you expect me to go back to bed with you two down there yelling like a bunch of monkeys?"

Freya stepped in. "We're done yelling, all right? Just bugger off." She heard him grumble to himself as Jonathan shut the door, leaving them alone once again. She glared at him before averting her eyes and sighing. "Look, I'm really tired, Sirius, can we just not… do this right now?"

He stared down at her as she looked up at him with pleading eyes, asking him to understand. His resolve to be angry broke. "Fine, but we aren't done talking about this."

She rolled her eyes as she walked away. "Your definition of talking must be different from mine."

He watched her disappear up the dormitory stairs before he turned and left the common room.

**A/N: So... I rewrote this, realistically about ten times. I don't know what about it was so difficult for me to write but it really stumped me for some reason so I apologise for the absence of updates but the next chapter has more exciting stuff like possibly a Quidditch match...? You'll have to wait and see but again, thanks a ton for the 1000 views! (: **

**Angela xxx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi (: Really sorry about the wait on this chapter but it was a long series of unfortunate events, but hey! We past ten reviews which may not seem like a lot but it is double digits, all right? I'm excited. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.**

Freya woke up the next day to a cold splash of water drenching her body. She gasped and sat up quickly, spitting up everywhere. She wiped her long hair out of her face and looked to her left to see an amused look on the face of her best friend.

"Mooorning," Lily cooed with a mockingly sweet tone.

"You dirty wench!" Freya shrieked, grabbing blindly at her nightstand for her wand. Lily brought her hand up to show Freya that it had already been confiscated. Upon seeing it, she scowled.

Lily shrugged innocently. "A smart witch has got to think ahead." She did a quick spell that dried off her friend.

Freya mumbled curses under her breath that would have turned a sailor's ears blue. "What do you want at this ungodly hour?" Lily raised an eyebrow and directed her attention to the clock. I was nearly ten o'clock. Freya simply continued to glare at her. "As I said, ungodly."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You have beans to spill." She sat down on the bed. "I want to know about everything that happened after I left last night."

Freya sighed, her eyes trailing to the foot of the bed where they stayed throughout her retelling of what had happened with Sirius.

Once she had finished recalling the events, they two girls sat in silence for a moment.

Lily spoke up first. "Well it obviously didn't go down very smoothly." This earned her a look from Freya.

"Wow, Lily. I hadn't realised."

She chose to ignore her friend's comment. "So, what do you plan to do now?"

Freya shrugged. "Probably take a shower."

"Ha ha, Freya. You're hilarious. I meant what are you going to do about Sirius?"

She bit her lip. "I honestly don't know but I'm not going to let him think that he owns me. I can talk to whomever I please and he can forget about telling me different." She crossed her arms across her chest defiantly.

"And Regulus," Lily asked tentatively. Freya stiffened slightly before relaxing.

"He lied to me, and if what Sirius told me is true then I don't want to be associated with him any longer." She sighed. "Although, I bet he'd change if Sirius would just talk to him without trying to strangle the guy."

Lily leaned her shoulder against the headboard.

"So it all circles back to Sirius, huh?"

Freya slid off the bed, frowning. "So it does, but if he isn't going to take my great advice then he isn't worth talking to."

"Yes," Lily said sarcastically. "We all know that Freya MacGregor is notorious for giving great advice."

Freya grinned. "I'm glad that you've finally come around to admitting it." Lily snorted and reached over to shove her but she dodged out of the way laughing. "I'm heading to the bathroom. I smell like Firewhiskey and cheap booze."

"You've already slept way past breakfast so you might as well take as long as you like in the shower."

She walked away, calling over her shoulder, "Be out in a jiffy."

*†‡†*

Severus sat in the Slytherin common room waiting for the fourth year's boys and Alecto Carrow to show up. He had been given orders from Lucius to recruit trustworthy students to the cause and as much as he despised taking orders from Lucius, Severus knew that if the Dark Lord wanted it done then he had better do it.

As he sat there alone, he couldn't help it when his wandering mind traced back to a week ago when he had given Freya his letter to Lily. He still had to talk to the infuriating red head about what had happened when it was given but he hadn't the time that week.

Severus had poured his heart into the letter and had prayed to whatever God was out there that it was enough to move her.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when the common room was suddenly filled with commotion as his long awaited guest showed up.

"You called for us?" Rabastan Lestrange said as he sat down on the couch across from Severus. The rest of the group followed. In total there were six students gathered; Severus excluded.

"Yes." Severus said unenthusiastically. "Before we begin with what I have called you here for, I must first ask you something and it is crucial that you tell the truth." The younger students shifted uneasily in their seats. Severus's voice dropped to a lower octave as he whispered. "Do you support the Dark Lord?" Looks were exchanged shortly before each person nodded their head yes. "Good," Severus spoke, sitting back. "Now to more pressing matters, a person in the Dark Lord's close circle has informed me that the Dark Lord wished to recruit more people for his cause. I have selected you six based on…" he paused, half of the people in the group were bumbling idiots, but they did all share a common interest in the Dark Arts. "Enthusiasm," he finished.

The group exchanged curious glances with one another.

"What's in it for us," asked Evan Rosier.

Severus bristled and narrowed his eyes at the dim-witted teen. "What's in it for you," he asked sharply. "Only to serve the greatest dark wizard in history. He will reward all of his loyal followers when this is over… unless you wish to side with the low, scummy Mudbloods of this generation. There is no better place for wizards like us than by his side. Fighting for him."

Rabastan regarded him with amusement. Severus wanted to hex it off of his face.

"If I recall correctly, Snape," Rebastan began, "You were friends with a Mudblood. Oh, what was her name again?" He snapped his fingers in a show of recollection. "That's right! Miss Lily Evans." He gave Severus a smug smile. "You don't sympathise for her do you?"

Severus's face turned to stone, his glare steely. "No and if your memory is as good as it seems, you will remember me forsaking all my ties with that particular Mudblood last year."

"Hmmm," Rabastan said mockingly. "Yes I do seem to remember that."

"Back to the topic of discussion," interrupted Rosier. "I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say I wish to join the cause." He looked around at the faces of his friends. They were all nodding in agreement. "When do we start?"

"Not so fast," Severus said. "Although your enthusiasm is duly noted." He took on a more serious demeanour. "For some of you it will begin next year," he looked pointedly at Regulus. "But for others, the Dark Lord wishes that you reach your sixth year at least before fully immersing yourself into his circle. That is all I have to say on the matter at the moment. I will call for you again when I have more information or if you are needed."

He stood and walked out of the common room, leaving the group to their chatter.

Regulus sat, his face pale and his mind in overdrive. Up until about a week ago he would have been delighted to know the Dark Lord wanted to recruit him, but now he was having doubts, second thoughts. Everything in his mind was screaming to do it, but he found himself resisting. Regulus couldn't afford to step a toe out of line, lest he want his parents to throw him out of the house and disown him… like they had done to Sirius.

He shook his head of his older brother. Regulus knew he'd get maimed if he brought up his thoughts to the rest of the group. No… he needed somebody else to talk to. The picture of a short red head with a fiery temper popped into his mind. Freya.

He stood up quickly, drawing the attention of his peers. "Uh, I just remembered that I forgot to do… something for class." Rabastan snorted and turned back to his conversation, the others shortly followed suit.

Regulus weaved his way up and out of the dungeons, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of red.

He was walking down an empty corridor when he heard a laugh bouncing off the walls. It was a girl's laugh, and with no other leads on where to find her, he followed it.

He rounded the corner and saw two retreating figures heading up one of the staircases. The figures were girls with matching dark red hair. He dashed after them, hoping to make it up the stairs before they changed.

"Wait!" He called, hoping that one, it was she and Lily, and two, they would hear him.

They turned around and Regulus let out a breath he hadn't realised he had held in. It was they.

They both looked equally confused. Regulus reached them at the top, out of breath and panting.

"Regulus Black," Lily questioned with a raised eyebrow. Unable to answer verbally due to his lack of breath, he simply nodded. "What do you want?"

Regulus was slightly taken aback. Lily Evans was known for her kindness among other things, but mostly her kindness. He was not prepared to face her wrath.

Freya was too short to intimidate him, but Lily was just his height, allowing him to stare straight into her angry green eyes. Usually, when Regulus thought of green eyes he thought of a light, celery kind of shade dulled out a bit with brown, but that wasn't the case with Lily. Her eyes were undeniably pure dark green reminding him of emeralds.

"Uh…" he stuttered. "Err, I was hoping to talk to Freya."

Lily glanced sideways at her friend who was scowling. Regulus thought she looked like an angry angel.

"What about?" The shorted girl snapped.

Another thing he was unprepared for was Freya's tone. His last two encounters with her had been friendly and inviting. This time… it seemed like she was ready to bite his head off.

"Just, just something important, all right?" He didn't really want to say too much, but he had to get it out.

Freya rolled her eyes. "Look, Regulus. I don't have time for your little games. I'm busy." Lily scoffed and gave her friend a questioning look. Freya threw up her arms. "Okay so I'm not actually busy, but I still don't feel like talking to you."

Regulus felt a pang of hurt lance through his chest. "Why?" He croaked out.

She narrowed her piercing silver eyes at him. "Because you lied to me."

He reeled back in shock. "When did I lie to you?"

"Sirius told me that he caught you terrorising little kids in the hallway with the Carrow twins. Did you ever plan to tell me this?"

Regulus felt a flush creep up his neck. He had withheld that information from her purposely, but that wasn't technically lying right?

"Err..." He began but was unable to finish before she interrupted him.

"Yeah, 'Err'. Look, Regulus, those kids are shit company and you're getting yourself into stuff way over your head with them." _Yeah_… he thought. _Tell me about it._ "I'm pulling myself out of this little hole you've dug. Between your Death Eater friends and your problem with your brother, I just can't afford to be associated with you."

Another wave of pain shot through his body.

"Oh…" he said dumbly.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could have sworn he saw a look of pity from Lily, but he wasn't sure. He heard the steps of a group of students approaching.

"Goodbye, Regulus." Freya waved unemotionally and turned around to leave.

Regulus couldn't help himself. His chest ached with hurt and regret. He reached out and grabbed onto her arm, stalling her movement away from him and pulling her back around to face him. His heart pounded erratically in his chest due to her close proximity to him. She glared at him.

"I'm really sorry about lying to you, Freya and I understand that you don't want to be seen with me anymore. I guess I just wanted to look like a good person in your eyes."

Her expression softened slightly at his words but it was still steely. She opened her mouth to say something but another voice interrupted her.

"What the hell?" Sirius shouted at the sight of his little brother holding onto Freya with barely an inch of space separating them. She looked down at her arm and yanked it back quickly before she turned to Sirius, her face a façade of confidence.

"What, Black? Come to annoy us to death?"

He stalked over to them with a murderous expression on his face. His three friends scrambled behind him.

Sirius moved Freya and Lily behind him as he stood in front of Regulus, towering over the younger boy. "Stay away from them." He snarled down at his brother. Regulus deciphered an undertone in his older brother's voice that made it clear that by 'them' he meant mostly Freya. The way Sirius had put Freya behind him in protective way made it obvious he thought she was already his. Anger and jealousy surged through him.

A part Regulus wanted to turn the other direction and flee but a monster inside of him reared for a fight.

"I don't have to listen to you." He spat back, attempting to make himself look bigger than he was.

Sirius narrowed his eyes and reached into his pocket to draw his wand but Freya stopped him.

"Oh screw you, Sirius! I don't need you to protect me!" She shoved him to the side, standing her own ground, her fists clenched.

Sirius turned toward her with an intense expression.

"Stay out of it, Freya."

She stepped closer to him, poking her finger into his chest, right on top of his heart. "No, you stay out of it. Regulus was just leaving and he would have been gone by now if you hadn't shown up."

Sirius grabbed her hand, stopping its consistent jabbing. "Fine. If that's true then we're leaving."

He began to walk away, tugging her along with him.

She smacked him repeatedly with her free hand but was not able to wrestle away from him. "Stop it, you prat! I'm not a dog!"

Lily trailed behind them, watching the situation with amusement and leaving a fuming Regulus alone in the hallway. She walked over to Remus, James, and Peter who followed behind the rowing pair to explain what had happened prior to their appearance on the scene.

Once far enough away, Sirius spun around to glare at Freya.

"I thought I told you to stay away from him?"

She glared daggers at him. "And I thought I told you not to tell me what to do."

"I'm just looking out for you," he cried exasperatedly.

Freya huffed and wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging herself. "I don't need you to look after me and most importantly I'm not yours to look after."

Sirius clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly at his sides, attempting to get his temper in check. He stared down at the glaring girl in front on him.

"You're going to be the death of me, Freya."

She snorted.

"I hope it's a painful one."

Sirius couldn't help it as one corner of his mouth turned up in something like a half smile, only to disappear the next second.

"I'm positive you'll make sure it is." His voice was husky, making Freya's legs involuntarily wobbly.

"At least you're right about one thing for a change." She turned and walked away, grabbing Lily as she went.

Sirius watched her leave, his eyes trailed up her slim figure to rest on the wonderful sway of her hips. He thought he'd start drooling, but James walked up behind him and whacked him in the back of the head.

James growled out a warning. "Eyes up, Padfoot."

The longhaired Marauder just grinned. "I am nothing if not a gentleman."

Remus and James both rolled their eyes. "Yeah," said Remus, "and I'm the Queen."

*†‡†*

The rest of the week passed uneventfully until Wednesday evening. Lily and Mason were about to finish patrols together when he popped the question she had been anticipating.

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers nervously. "So, Red. Err," he stammered along, hoping not to make a fool of himself. "I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?" He scrambled for words. "I mean, I know it's still weeks away but I thought I'd ask you before anybody else did…" He trailed off sheepishly at the end, making Lily grin. Mason was usually so confident; it was funny to watch him get flustered.

She beamed inside, wanting to jump up and down excitedly but knew she ought to remain calm and collected.

She placed her hand on his bicep reassuringly. "I'd love to, Mason." She smiled up at him, watching as a grin slid over his mouth.

"Really? I-I mean, great! Yeah, wow, that's really great…" Lily let out a bubbly laugh as he blushed. "I can be a really big idiot at times."

She grinned and pulled back her hand, waving it dismissively. "It's nothing. Honestly," she said when he gave her an are-you-kidding look. "It's actually really cute."

He grinned. "Cute, huh? I guess I can work with cute." He started walking backward towards Ravenclaw Tower. "I'll catch you later, right?"

"Of course."

She caught his smile one last time before he turned around and disappeared around the corner. She stood there in the hallway with a stupid smile on her face for another minute before heading back to the common room. On the way there she ran into James and Sirius. The boys were carrying their brooms and Quidditch bags, making her assume they were coming up from practice.

Lily scowled at them. "You better not be tracking mud into the castle."

James rolled his hazel eyes. "Oh stuff it, Evans. You're starting to sound like Filch."

She glared at him but didn't reply, hoping that if she ignored them, they would ignore her. She hoped in vain.

"So, Evans," Sirius drawled. "I reckon something good just happened to you seeing as how you walked over with a biggest smile on your face… something to do with a certain Ravenclaw Keeper?"

Lily blushed furiously and ducked her head, hoping neither of them would notice.

Sirius's grin turned wolfish. "Ahhh, so it seems I guessed correctly. What happened?" He pestered.

Lily calmed herself and glared at him. "That's none of your business, Black."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, don't tell. It's your loss."

She scoffed and kept walking, glancing at James as she did.

He regarded her with a slightly sad expression, a frown apparent on his face and a crease between his brows.

She looked away, trying to ignore Sirius's idle chitchat and the strange tug that demanded she go tell Mason to shove off and console James. What was wrong with her? James obviously didn't fancy her anymore, and he was dating Estella now. Why should she care what was going on his love life. She had no reason to.

_Unless you fancy him… _A small voice in the back of her head whispered.

_Of course I don't fancy, James Potter. _She thought angrily to herself. _My God, Lily. Get a grip. He's an arrogant prat. Where are these feelings even coming from?_

_You've always thought he was funny… _The voice in her head shot back. Okay, so yeah, on occasion, James was funny. But that was it.

_You've even admitted to Freya that you find him handsome… _

Lily felt her face flush. James was good looking, that was just a fact of life. It didn't mean his behaviour was attractive.

_You love how he stands up for his friends… his loyalty to them…_

She had to admit that was true. _One of his only good traits, _she thought

_You enjoy his attention… you don't want Estella to have it…_

Lily snarled. "Shut up!" Instantly her hands flew up and covered her mouth, embarrassed and shocked for yelling it out loud.

Sirius and James were both regarding her strangely.

"Gee, Evans," said Sirius with a tone of false hurt. "You could have asked nicely."

Her hands moved up to cup her forehead as she shook her head at herself. "I'm going mental…" she mumbled under her breath. They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and Sirius gestured for Lily to say the password. "Pumpkin Guts." The door swung open and she stepped through with James and Sirius trailing behind her.

Once inside the common room, she found Freya, Mary, and Alice lounging around on the floor. Since Alice was Head Girl, she had her own room somewhere else in the castle, but she could usually be found in Gryffindor Tower with her best friend.

Lily walked over to the girls with a broad smile on her face. She knew they'd be delighted to hear the news.

"Lily," Mary called enthusiastically, Freya and Alice perked up, looking toward the portrait hole.

"Hey, guys," Lily said taking a seat next to Freya.

Freya looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What's with the smile?"

Lily felt her face heat up a bit. "Mason asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him."

Alice gasped and clapped her hands giddily while Mary just smiled. Freya face was calculating.

"Isn't Hogsmeade weekend a month away?" Lily nodded, making Freya roll her eyes. "Why is he so anxious to ask then?"

Alice chided her. "Oh be quiet, Freya. I'm sure Mason just wanted to be the first to ask her. She is a very popular girl." She winked at Lily.

"Right…" Freya drawled still not sounding quite convinced.

Alice stood up. "It's getting late, though. Frank and I have last patrol."

Mary and Freya smirked at each other. "Patrol." They both mused. Alice blushed furiously.

"Yes, patrol, nothing else. Strictly business."

"Uh huh," Mary said rolling her eyes at her friend. Alice stuck her tongue out at the girls and turned away at their laughter.

"Now I can see why Dumbledore made you Head Girl, Alice," Freya called after her. "Maturity."

Alice sent her a glare over her shoulder before the portrait door swung closed. Mary burst into laughter and Lily giggled.

Sirius stared at the girls from across the common room. Well, mostly he stared at Freya. He had been meaning to talk to her for a while but James had held him back, telling him that she needed time to cool down. Cool down from what? He hadn't set her on fire, though it did look like he had gotten close.

A cough came from next to him, making Sirius turn his attention back to his friends. James and Remus were giving him questioning looks as Peter stared up expectantly at Remus.

"Something interesting over there, Padfoot," asked Remus.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Freya's arse."

James looked like he was about to say something, but Remus put a hand on his chest. "He isn't going to listen to any warning you give him to stay away from her so you might as well save your breath."

He huffed, but sank back in his seat.

"Are you going to talk to her now? I think it's fair to say she's cooled off."

Sirius glanced over at her quickly. She, Lily, and Mary were laughing as if something hilarious had just happened and they would never get the chance to laugh again.

He sighed. "I'll give it a go, but I don't know if we have much to discuss." He shifted uncomfortably. "We don't exactly see eye to eye on the matter."

"Well she is kind of short," said Peter, taking what Sirius had said literally.

Sirius scoffed. "It's a figure of speech, Wormtail."

"Oh…" gave the smaller boy, his shoulders hunching. "Right."

He was about to stand and make his way over to her when the girls rose, chatting as they made their way to their dormitory.

"Looks like you just lost your chance." Pointed out James who was leaning back, his entwined fingers acting as a makeshift cradle for his head.

Sirius shrugged. "There's always tomorrow."

*†‡†*

Freya daydreamed about slamming her head against the table so she wouldn't have to live through Potions class, but Lily wasn't allowing her to do so.

There were ten minutes left of class last time she checked, which felt like an hour ago, but when she glanced down at her watch again it read that they still had eight minutes remaining.

"This is torture." Freya groaned and would have hit her head on the side of her cauldron had Lily not kept her back by her cloak.

Lily glanced warily at her half asleep friend. "It's really quite interesting if you get into it, Freya."

"Sorry we're not all losers who enjoy class like you do."

Lily frowned at her. "You like our other classes, well except for Arithmancy."

Freya rolled her eyes. "That's cause I'm _good_ at our other subjects."

"I'm not as good as you in Transfiguration but I still enjoy that class," she pointed out as she stared down at her empty cauldron. She had already finished her assignment of the day.

She heard a scoff from next to her and turned to see Freya looking at her with narrowed eyes.

"Lily, you're an Animagus," she whispered. "Obviously you're pretty good at Transfiguration."

She shrugged as if it were nothing. "I wouldn't have been able to do it if I hadn't had you to help me."

Freya fanned her face. "Please, enough flattery," she joked. "My head might expand to be as big as Jem's."

Lily laughed loudly, earning a few glares from around the class. She covered her mouth and continued to giggle quietly.

"I don't think your head could ever get that big."

Freya picked at her nails nonchalantly. "You'd be surprised."

The bell rang then, signalling the end of class.

The girls gathered up their belongings and headed to the door with a brisk pace, hoping to beat the crowd out of the dungeons.

Severus followed behind them, unnoticed. He had to speak with Freya. Unfortunately for him the Marauders were with them. Anger and jealous boiled inside of him as he watched James and Lily interact. James had just wrapped his arm around her shoulder and bumped his hip to hers. She had scowled and said something to him that made him back away with his hands up laughing. Severus saw the happiness and amusement in her eyes and was immediately enraged to know Potter had put it there.

The girls were headed toward the library and to Severus's surprise the boys were following them there. Sirius Black and James Potter usually avoided the library at all cost… unless of course they were up to something.

Once inside, he watched as Lily and Freya chose a table away from the bumbling idiots who had accompanied them. Instead of sitting down, Severus lingered between the shelves, hoping to catch Freya when she went off alone. He hated having to rely on the annoying red head but at the moment she was his only reliable link to Lily.

After about twenty minutes, Lily ripped a corner of her parchment and scribbled something onto it before sliding the note across the table to her friend. Freya glanced up at it and then frowned. She began to speak to Lily, complaining about something if Severus had to guess from the look on her face. They argued for another moment before Freya seemed to give in to her friend's demands. With a roll of her eyes, she stood up and snatched the small piece of parchment from the table haughtily. She glared at Lily and said something as she walked away, causing Lily to turn quickly and smack Freya's bum as she did.

Freya threw a grin over her shoulder at her friend as she headed toward the potion section of the library. Severus trailed behind her like a shadow, but left a good amount of space between him and she, not wanting to get caught.

Soon enough, she turned into a row and disappeared. Severus cut through the row before, heading to the opposite end to enter.

Right as he turned the corner to enter the row Freya had vanished into, he came face to face with the short red head. She had her arms crossed against her chest and her eyes were narrowed into slits.

"Following me were you, Snape?"

He glared back at her and was slightly miffed she had noticed him. "I just need to speak with you quickly."

She shrugged. "Yeah, well, I don't want to speak to you at all." She grabbed a book off of the shelf and went to move around him, but Severus stepped in her path. She scowled. "Move."

"I wouldn't be talking to you unless I had to."

Freya stepped back from him and rolled her eyes. "Oh spare me, and since I already know this is about Lily—,"

"Did you give her my letter?" Severus interrupted.

She smirked. "Yeah, I gave it to her."

He wringed his hands nervously. "And what did she think of it?"

She turned up her hands in false ignorance. "Oh I wouldn't know, she burned it before she even opened it."

Severus clenched his jaw and stared over Freya's head. _Burned it? _He thought incredulously. _How could she _— _why would she burn it?_

"Seeing as how this conversation is over, I'll just be leaving." She backed away from him down the aisle. "A word of advice, leave her alone. I think she's made it perfectly clear by now that she wants nothing to do with you." Freya turned to face forward once she reached the end. Severus let her go; she wouldn't be of any use to him now.

'_She's made it perfectly clear by now that she wants nothing to do with you…' _Freya's last words echoed in his head.

"Fine," he growled to himself. "I'm done trying to please her. I don't need her anyway."

He stormed out of the library, repeating the words like a chant.

_I don't need her. I'm better without her. I will be a great wizard. I don't need Lily Evans._

As much as he wished he believed it, Severus knew it wasn't true.

*†‡†*

Friday evening was another time for patrols for Lily. Freya had just dropped her off at the spot she usually started with Mason and was now heading back to the common room to relax with Mary.

She was about to recite the password to the Fat Lady when the portrait door swung open to reveal Sirius and James. The boys were talking, but ceased their conversation when they laid eyes on her.

She raised one of her eyebrows. "Where are you both off to?"

James replied. "We were simply going on a walk."

Freya let loose a laugh. "A late night stroll around the castle?" She fluttered her dark eyelashes at him. "My, my, how romantic."

Both boys blushed and took a step away from the other.

Sirius spoke up. "Prongs and I are close, but we aren't that close."

A laugh made it's way out of her mouth again. "Right, well I hope you two enjoy your romantic evening together."

She glanced up at Sirius who was eyeing her with an intense gaze.

"Actually," he said to James. "You head out first, Prongs, I need to talk to Freya."

James eyed the couple warily. "Don't kill each other, but no kissing either."

Freya rolled her eyes. "Just go, Jem. I'm responsible enough not to kill or kiss Sirius."

He reached over and pulled her closer to him, planting a sweet his on her forehead. "Be good."

She pushed him away and gave a crooked smile. "Aren't I always?"

James walked backwards toward the staircase. "I mean it, Fey."

"Yes, yes, I get it, now turn around before you fall and crack your head open." She shooed him away, leaving her alone with Sirius.

The second James disappeared from sight; Sirius grabbed Freya's hand and pulled her toward the opposite end of the hall.

Freya grudgingly allowed herself to be pulled and would never admit to anyone how nice and warm his hand felt.

They stopped in front of a tapestry. After checking to make sure that no one was around, Sirius pulled it away to reveal a small, empty space the size of a broom cupboard. He stepped inside, motioning for her to follow him.

She crossed her arms across her chest and jutted out her hip. "I am not going in there with you."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I just want to talk, Freya. I promise to keep the touching and shenanigans to a low."

She snorted, but stepped inside. "Your definition of low had better match mine," she warned. He grinned at her. She leaned against the wall and faced him, hoping to keep as much distance between them although the closet was quite small. There was less than half a meter of space separating her from him. She spoke up first. "Look, I'm done helping your brother, all right? But I still stand by what I said to you. You can't judge him on these choices he's making. What if he's being forced? He needs your help."

Sirius shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. "I'm glad that you're not talking to him anymore, but I still refuse to help him because I know it's not going to do any good. Regulus lives to please my parents and he isn't going to go against them. That's just not him. He's the good son and that means he listens to everything he's told and does it. If that means becoming a Death Eater then Regulus is going to become a Death Eater. I can't help him."

Freya wanted to scream and turn him into a frog. His reasons had logic; logic and Sirius shouldn't be used in the same sentence. She was defeated. If Regulus truly was gung-ho with joining You-Know-Who then she didn't want herself or her friends to be associated with him and Sirius just barely managed to scrape by with the labelling of friend. She sighed and buried her head in her hands.

"I feel like there should be something we could do. How can Dumbledore not realise that he has aspiring Death Eaters at his school? He has to be doing something! How can he — why is he just sitting back and pretending like there isn't a war going on?" She tugged at the ends of her hair unconsciously. Sirius was giving her a pained look.

"It's more complicated than that. You know all those families that are speculated to support Him have power and money and that's something that matters greatly to the Ministry. If they matter to the Ministry then Dumbledore can't just expel the kids because he _thinks _their parents are Death Eaters or because he _thinks _the students might be spies for You-Know-Who."

She scowled. "Well things like that shouldn't matter to the Ministry and Dumbledore should be allowed to do whatever the hell he wants. He's a damn great Headmaster and an even better wizard. They should trust his judgement." She looked over at Sirius to see him grinning at her. "What?" She snapped.

His grin got bigger. "It's nothing." She gave him a look, causing him to chuckle. "I just love the way you turn all red and get flustered when you're talking about something you have passion for. You look like a little fire sprite."

She blushed. "I'm not a ginger. My hair is dark red like a rose." She glared up at him. "Not a fire sprite."

He chuckled. "You do act like one though."

She rolled her eyes at him but smiled. "Whatever, Black."

Sirius reached over for her but she smacked his hands away. "No touching." She scolded. "I'm still kind of mad at you."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why? Because I was right all along about Regulus and because my judgement on not helping him was reasonable?"

Freya scowled. "My sympathy for him was reasonable, too…" she mumbled. "And I'm still mad at you because you're a prat." Sirius's barking laughter filled the small space. His grin was wolfish.

"And why am I a prat?"

"You think that just because I may fancy you a tiny bit you have this claim over me like I'm your property. I'm not. I can make my own decisions and I can take care of myself. I'm a big girl."

"Hmm," he said with amusement. "You look pretty small to me." Freya bristled and pushed off the wall to get in his face.

"I'm not short! I'm average height!"

He snorted. "Average height for what? A goblin?"

She gasped. "Oh you loathsome little git! I'll box your ears in, Sirius Black!" She lunged at him, but he caught her wrists and kept them down and away from his face. He was grinning like mad.

"I didn't realise you could reach my ears, love."

She untangled her hands from his and grabbed her wand, pointing it at his chest. He glanced down at it warily.

Freya wore a triumphant smirk. "Not so tough now, are we?" Sirius's hand moved for his wand but she was quicker. Nonverbally, she disarmed him_, _sending his wand to the wall behind her. It hit the ground and rolled to her foot.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "A nonverbal spell? You must be practicing. Professor Flitwick would be so proud."

She smirked. "I know," she said sweetly. "Now back to our conversation." Her silver eyes narrowed to slits. "Apologise. I'm not that short."

He eyed the wand pointed at his chest and sighed. "I'm so deeply sorry, Freya. You're practically as tall as Hagrid."

Freya smiled brightly and laughed, making his heart involuntarily skip a beat. "I'm not that tall you oaf, but thank you." She lowered her wand and placed it back in her cloak pocket before bending down and grabbing Sirius's off of the floor. When she stood back up, she found herself chest to chest with him. Freya took a step away from him instinctively and nearly let out a gasp when her back collided with the wall. Sirius took a step closer, trapping her between his body and the wall at her back.

"Now that I've apologised," he whispered huskily. "Can I touch you?"

She wanted to say yes as she felt her chest ache with the need to feel his touch. She attempted to swallow but her throat and mouth felt unnaturally dry. She kept her hands pressed firmly against the wall behind her to keep them from reaching up and tugging him close. She willed her voice to sound strong and determined. She failed, miserably.

"No," she said quietly, her voice faltering. Her eyes locked onto his for a second before they trailed down to his lips. She watched as one corner pulled up in a half smile.

"Really," he asked. He leaned forward and rested his hands on either side of her head, moving his chest back so that it no longer brushed against hers. "Are you sure?" Freya nodded. "Completely sure?"

"I'm sure," she whispered, her eyes moving up his face to look into his again. His grey ones were clouded with want. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips and drag her plump bottom lip back into her mouth, allowing her teeth sinking into it. Sirius groaned at the sight but pushed away from the wall anyway. He pulled aside the tapestry and let Freya out first. Her legs felt like jelly so she was surprised when they were able to carry her weight.

They walked back to the portrait in silence, their bodies close but not touching. When they arrived, Sirius moved to face her.

"I should go meet up with Prongs." Freya nodded, her eyes trained on the floor. "Goodnight."

He spun on his heel, but stopped short of leaving when Freya grabbed his hand. He turned around surprised.

Before he could speak, she stepped closer and reached up, her hand cupping the side of his face as she stretched onto her tippy-toes and placed a lingering kiss on his cheek. Once she pulled away and flattened her feet on the ground she met his eyes.

"Uhh," Sirius said dumbly making her smile. He shook his head, a grin taking over his face. "What was that for? You said no touching."

Freya shrugged nonchalantly. "Consider it a prize."

"Prize for what," he questioned.

"You listened to me when I said no touching and you kept your promise of keeping the shenanigans to a minimum."

"Maybe I should listen to you more often."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't test your luck, Black. I still hate you."

He laughed. "Goodnight, love."

"Goodnight, Sirius."

He turned and walked away with his hands in his pockets and a stupidly big smile on his face.

**A/N: AWWHHH. Wasn't that cute? Hehehe, I plan to have lots of Jily in the next few chapters though, so say goodbye to Freya and Sirius for a while. We need a name for them. If someone comes up with a couple name for them tell me! (: This was my first chapter using italics as the font for thoughts and stuff so let me know what you think of that. Should I keep it or get rid of it? I'm not sure yet. I want to profusely apologise for how long it took me to write this but I was being hounded by schoolwork and then my computer crashed cause it had like a million viruses on it and when it crashed it deleted a lot of my writing on this chapter. So then I moved it to a flash drive but then I lost the flash drive and well… It's been a hard time for writing. But hey, it was my sixteenth birthday on the first! I have the same birthday as Ron! God it's so nerdy that I'm proud of that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks a ton for reading!**

**Angela xx**


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